Research: Millions of smart devices vulnerable to hacking

BOSTON >> Researchers at a cybersecurity firm say they have identified vulnerabilities in software widely used by millions of connected devices — flaws that could be exploited by hackers to penetrate business and home computer networks and disrupt them.

There is no evidence of any intrusions that made use of these vulnerabilities. But their existence in datacommunications software central to internet- connected devices prompted the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to flag the issue in an advisory.

Potentially affected devices from an estimated 150 manufacturers range from networked thermometers to “smart” plugs and printers to office routers and healthcare appliances to components of industrial control systems, the cybersecurity firm Forescout Technologies said in a report released Tuesday. Most affected are consumer devices including remotecontrolled temperature sensors and cameras, it said.

In the worst case, control systems that drive “critical services to society” such as water, power and automated building management could be crippled, said Awais Rashid, a computer scientist at Bristol University in Britain who reviewed the Forescout findings.

In its advisory, CISA recommended defensive measures to minimize the risk of hacking. In particular, it said industrial control systems should not be accessible from the internet and should be isolated from corporate networks.