Hacker threat to smart homes
THE biggest risk of theft in the future might not be leaving your front door open, but having it unlocked remotely by hackers.
Smart home products, from internet-connected fridges to robot vacuum cleaners, came under fire at the world’s biggest mobile phone show in Barcelona this week, as cybersecurity experts warned most new smart devices traded security for convenience, and were open to attack.
The devices could be used to expose everything from private conversations to video of children sleeping near baby monitors, and could even direct smart appliances to mine cryptocurrency, they warned.
The news comes after almost a million LG smart devices, from web-connected dishwashers and fridges to washing machines and airconditioners, were found to be vulnerable to attack.
International data security firm Trend Micro revealed it detected 8.5 million attempts to hack smart home products last year.
While the LG ThinQ vulnerability has since been patched, Avast security researcher Martin Hron said the discovery was not a one-off problem, as many smart products failed to include the same basic security as computers, modems, or smartphones.
“Most of these devices are poorly protected,” he said.
“Security on smart devices should be opt-out, rather than opt-in.”
Mr Hron said many smart appliance users also underestimated the potential risk of connecting common household devices to the internet, and failed to change default passwords and settings.
As a result, many vulnerable devices could be found and targeted by hackers, with a search engine already available to find more than 500 million exposed smart devices.