While it's easy to focus on the rainbow world that the Internet of Things (IoT) will enable, let's not forget that there's the potential, at least for now, of getting Sauron's baleful gaze into your personal network.
Such is my initial takeaway upon seeing that Vectra Networks' Threat Labs cracked open a Linux kernel in a $30 D-Link WiFi webcam to create a network backdoor. According to Threat Labs, this is ample proof that consumer-grade Internet of Things products can be hacked and reprogrammed into permanent backdoors. Once the hack is in place, attackers could use the camera to control remote attacks and steal corporate or personal data without being detected by firewalls, malware sandboxes and antivirus software. Vectra provided details of the break-in via a company blog.
"Consumer-grade IoT products can be easily manipulated by an attacker, used to steal an organization’s private information, and go undetected by traditional security solutions," said Gunter Ollmann, CSO of Vectra Networks. "While many of these devices are low-value in terms of hard costs, they can affect the security and integrity of the network, and teams need to keep an eye on them to reveal any signs of malicious behavior."
It's important to remind consumers and businesses alike that IoT and cloud-based services keep even the most astute security experts up at night. But in this case it's also worth noting that Vectra Labs had to physically open the D-Link webcam to open the backdoor.
Vectra said it told D-Link early last month about the vulnerability it had exploited but as of January 7 D-Link had not provided a fix.
Today's news by Vectra followed on the heels of Rapid7's recent discovery of a flaw in Comcast's implementation of the ZigBee Alliance wireless protocol for home security. By using radio-jamming equipment, criminals could disable the sensors that monitor the doors and windows that are connected to an alarm system. Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is reportedly working on a fix for the issue.
— Mike Robuck, editor, Telco Transformation