How to begin fixing vulnerable IoT security issues | Health Data Management
The focus has moved from its potential to revolutionize the way we work and play, to visions of television sets turned spy and hijacked medical devices holding lives for ransom.
With so much hyperbole, it can be difficult to cut through the noise to understand exactly where the problems lie in securing the IoT.
Much has to do with the sheer scale of the attack surface. The current estimate for IoT devices is 6.4 billion, and Gartner predicts they will reach an installed base of 21 billion units by 2020—others others predict even higher. These devices are ever-connected and ever-susceptible, even when idle, and cybercriminals are taking full advantage.
The Mirai botnet that took down more than 80 major websites consisted mainly of CCTV cameras and DVRs, but that was only the beginning. The latest bot-herding software, Wicked, is a more sophisticated Mirai relative. It includes at least three new exploits targeting known vulnerabilities in various IoT devices, including cameras and Netgear routers.