Hacking the Internet of Things
November 17, 2016
Readers may recall that October’s DoS attack against internet-performance-management firm Dyn, which disrupted web traffic at popular sites like Twitter, Netflix, Reddit, and Etsy. As it turns out, the growing “Internet of Things (IoT)” facilitated that attack; specifically, thousands of cameras and DVRs were hacked and used to bombard Dyn with page requests. CNet examines the issue of hacking through the IoT in, “Search Engine Shodan Knows Where Your Toaster Lives.”
Reporter Laura Hautala informs us that it is quite easy for those who know what they’re doing to access any and all internet-connected devices. Skilled hackers can do so using search engines like Google or Bing, she tells us, but tools created for white-hat researchers, like Shodan, make the task even easier. Hautala writes:
While it’s possible hackers used Shodan, Google or Bing to locate the cameras and DVRs they compromised for the attack, they also could have done it with tools available in shady hacker circles. But without these legit, legal search tools, white hat researchers would have a harder time finding vulnerable systems connected to the internet. That could keep cybersecurity workers in a company’s IT department from checking which of its devices are leaking sensitive data onto the internet, for example, or have a known vulnerability that could let hackers in.
Even though sites like Shodan might leave you feeling exposed, security experts say the good guys need to be able to see as much as the bad guys can in order to be effective.
Indeed. Like every tool ever invented, the impacts of Shodan depend on the intentions of the people using it.
Cynthia Murrell, November 17, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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