How a Hacked Light Bulb Could Lead to Your Bank Account Being Drained
Spoiler Alert: As more devices come online, users become more and more susceptible to the whims of hackers.
Welcome to our modern world.
Any app that doesn’t protect its code—small, big, stupid, pointless—is vulnerable. Unprotected code doesn’t play favorites; it could be a banking app or an app that allows you to draw mustaches on cats. If it contains code, it has the potential to be hacked.
Every device and system is hackable—it’s just a matter of time and hacker motivation.
Observer recently connected with Asaf Ashkenazi, chief strategy officer at Verimatrix, who warned that the security of every connected device matters. And Ashkenazi knows; he’s been a cybersecurity industry veteran for more than 15 years and is a renowned thought leader on the topic of IoT (“Internet of Things“) device security. For Ashkenazi, good cybersecurity can be the difference between a hacker spending few days to find vulnerability, or spending months, or even years, without much progress.
“Almost every device these days run some kind of software,” Ashkenazi said. “From our cars that run millions of lines of code to our home appliances and smart speakers that have lately invaded our homes. And of course, our smartphones, which host tons of applications that help us interact with almost every aspect of our lives.”
Ashkenazi explained that all code contains an expected rate of error, or a bug rate. Not to send waves of fear to anyone, but the more code associated with an app or device, the more risk of cybersecurity threats. And it gets better, since the amount of code and automation concealed in everyday items is expected to continue to grow exponentially, the risk of cyberattacks will also continue to increase.
We read about hacking all the time. So what is currently being done wrong in the stratosphere of cybersecurity?
“Both consumers and companies don’t always give cybersecurity risks the right attention,” said Ashkenazi. “Consumers are concerned when they read about security breaches in the news, but when it comes to buying decisions, security is quite lower in consumers’ buying habits that prioritize product features, performance and price.”
According to Ashkenazi, these buying habits lead many device/app developers to pay less attention to security, as well as to spend less of their R&D (research and development) budget to secure their product.
“Fortunately, this is changing, and more companies are paying attention to security,” Ashkenazi added. “But even for the companies that take security seriously, it’s more of a necessity than a differentiator consumers appreciate.”
As consumers we wouldn’t consider buying a car if it had a poor safety rating, right? So, why do we still buy devices that have been noted to have poor security?
Answer: Lower prices. But there’s a larger price to be paid.
We already covered how hackers can infiltrate such everyday devices as baby monitors (in order to shout obscenities) and dating apps (to gather all of our data). So, what other everyday devices does Ashkenazi find as a security threat?
“Hair straighteners, refrigerators, HVAC systems, among others, are at risk,” he stated. “All devices, applications and appliances that have code and network connectivity are at risk of being hacked.”
Now that most devices are connected via Wi-Fi, consumers generally have a naïve view of the security damage that could be done if someone hacked into these bland gadgets.
“Take for an example a Wi-Fi controlled light bulb, or a home printer,” Ashkenazi explained. “The average consumer wouldn’t be as worried about the hack of these devices: ‘At the end of the day, what is the worst that can happen? A hacker will remotely turn off the light?’ What they don’t always realize is that these devices are just a gateway to attack other devices connected to the home network.
