The Dangers of IoT: Breaking-in Through The New Fridge
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Everything around us is becoming “smarter”. Who of us hasn’t dreamt of turning on the boiler 15 minutes before we get home from a long day at work? Or turning on the air conditioning while on the way home from the sunny beach? These futuristic dreams are, in fact, already here and will soon be optional to be applied in any home, but they do, however, carry quite a few dangers.
The danger of connecting electrical devices at home or in the office to the internet is much the same problem of connecting our computer to it. If a hacker can break into our personal computer, why can’t he break in to our home security system, thus easily entering the house?
Gartner, an American company that deals with information technology research and consultation, predicts that one-fifth of all enterprises will have digital security services devoted to protecting business initiatives that rely on IoT by 2017. When every electrical device becomes a potential target for the hacker, our devices may not work properly and our precious information may be exposed.
“IoT redefines security by expanding the scope of responsibility into new platforms, services and directions,” said Ganesh Ramamoorthy, research vice president at Gartner. He argues that he problem won’t be limited to big business, with the average consumer wrapped up in an IoT future, too.
John Iannarelli, a former FBI special agent, says that the fact the home appliances such as fridges, garage doors and ovens and already being managed via remote control today, and will be more extensively so in the future, raises obvious concern due to cyber threat. “For example, if a hacker gains access to your smart refrigerator, it could serve as a conduit to any other device connected to your home network, such as your home security system or personal computer.”
The FBI has already suggested rather simple solutions in the past in order to cope with this issue, such as changing our passwords and isolating IoT devices in separate networks. It also stated that patients who received medical electrical devices should be well-informed on this issue. Will we be willing to jeopardize our home, business or health, merely for a little more comfort? We should receive the answer to that very soon.
