An unnamed casino was hacked through the thermometer placed in an aquarium in the casino lobby. Said the curious and amused Nicole Eagan, the CEO of cybersecurity company Darktrace during her interaction at WSJ CEO Council in London.
She expressed great concerns over the vulnerability of the Internet of Things devices against such hacking and said that the tradition cybersecurity defense wasn’t adequate enough to tackle such incidents.
While explaining the anecdote, she said, “The attackers used that thermometer in the aquarium to get a foothold in the network. They then found the high-roller database and then pulled that back across the network, out the thermostat, and up to the cloud”.
The Internet of Things means those decides and instruments that are somehow connected to the internet but non-IT components. These devices allow data monitoring through a live feed. Mostly household appliances and industrial instruments and machines are called the Internet of Things.
The ex-boss of British digital spying agency, Robert Hannigan echoed the voice of Ms. Nicole Eagan and said that with the Internet of Things devices increasing each day, he saw an exponential increase in the problem.
Hannigan said. “I saw a bank that had been hacked through its CCTV cameras because these devices are bought purely on cost.” He demanded to regulate these devices with updated security standards.
“It’s probably one area where there’ll likely need to be regulation for minimum security standards because the market isn’t going to correct itself,” he said. “The problem is these devices still work. The fish tank or the CCTV camera still work.”
While the world is still finding the means to tackle the problems the Internet is facing, the internet of things adding an added pressure on security experts world across to make the world more safer. Wonder if the technology is proving itself to be blessings or curse.
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