5 IoT Security Fails of Smart Devices And Lessons Learned5 IoT Security Fails Of Smart Devices And Lessons Learned

Hackers are already eyeing unprotected IoT devices every user has in their homes. These small components are a default technology that manufacturers put in all sorts of devices — from baby monitors, printers, and pacemakers to smart TVs.

With billions of Internet of Things devices that are globally connected and sharing what is often sensitive user data, we need to talk about IoT Security.

From harmless pranks to life-endangering hacking, vulnerable IoTs can cause quite a stir. What can we learn from IoT hacking incidents that happened in recent years? Why is putting the best security practices for IoT devices so challenging?

Hacking of Amazon’s Ring Cameras

In 2020, several of Amazon’s Ring security systems, which feature a camera and two-way communication, were hacked. A home security camera allowed strangers to communicate with children. Some people even received death and sexual threats, while others were blackmailed.

This security incident might ring a bell if you’re seen the reports of the class action against Amazon in the news.

What happened, exactly?

Hackers broke into the Ring account linked to the camera, exploiting Amazon’s lax security practices. As a response, Amazon urged customers to change their passwords to stronger ones and enable two-factor authentication.

The security lesson that was learned in this IoT hacking case?

Users have an inherent trust in the technology they purchase — they believe that it’s safe and that it’s not their job to secure it. Pinning the cyber incident on them and failing to improve the security measures is a poor way of handling a security problem.

Roomba Recording Woman On the Toilet

In 2020, workers from Venezuela posted a series of images shot by a robot vacuum, Roomba — raising major data privacy concerns. One of the images captured a woman sitting on a toilet.

This was possible because the data uploaded in the cloud via the IoT device was not secured enough.

Roomba confirmed that the images were, in fact, shared by the robot vacuum. Also, it claims that the images stem from the training of the robot in the development stages and that this version is not the one available on the…