The ‘Internet of Things’ is the term given to appliances which perform basic roles around your home and are also connected to the internet. These items include your modem, fridge, smoke and fume detector, alarm system, etc. They are technological items which most homeowners purchase and install and then never think about again. The classic ‘Set-and-forget’ mindset.
Unfortunately, if it this behavior which has allowed for and will continue to enable them to be used in cyber attacks known as DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service).
Here’s how it works.
A hacker finds a flaw in the operating system of an internet connected fridge. The flaw doesn’t allow the hacker too much control over the actual product. However, it does allow the hacker to use the fridge as a ‘fake user.’
When these types of events happen, a hacker will take control over hundreds and thousands of millions of one particular model of a smart fridge and ‘command’ them to all connect to a particular website at the same time.
As good as any web hosting service is, websites can rarely withstand the number of connections being requested and ultimately crash. The hacker’s goal.
How Can Homeowners and General Consumers Protect Themselves?
When it comes to protection, consumers should think themselves lucky that hackers are making the problem known through use of ‘fake clients’, and not through taking over your fridge and making your food go bad.
The best place to start with any type of online protection is with the Groupon Coupons page for Kaspersky Lab CA to protect your computer secure and out of harm’s way. But, the problem is deeper than products.
Current consumer behavior is still a ‘set-and-forget’ mentality, as mentioned at the start of this article. And as much as marketing departments would like to tell you, no gadget follows this path.
Staying on top of updates is the best way to prevent against these types of cyber attacks, along with constantly seeded updates from manufacturers who need to stay aware of vulnerabilities.