Hackers can “access the home or business network and collect personal information” from devices that broadcast their location to the internet, as well as target devices whose default passwords have not been changed.
The FBI warned that office equipment such as printers, closed-circuit security cameras, fuel pumps and even medical instruments such as heart monitors or insulin dispensers are at risk, the Washington Examiner reported.
In an alert referring to the Internet of Things (IoT), the security group suggested consumers consider whether their Internet-connected devices “are ideal for their intended purpose” and advised that not everything needs to be linked to the internet.
“As more businesses and homeowners use web-connected devices to enhance company efficiency or lifestyle conveniences, their connection to the internet also increases the target space for malicious cyberactors”, the warning advised. “Similar to other computing devices, like computers or Smartphones, [Internet of Things] devices also pose security risks to consumers.”
Spam attacks via email are an easy way for hackers to infiltrate a victim’s network, often granting the perpetrator access to the victim’s social network. These come not only from laptops, desktop computers and mobile devices, but also “home-networking routers, connected multimedia centres, televisions and appliances with wireless network connections as vectors for malicious email”.
A 2014 report from the US president’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee warned that IoT was developing at a speed that exceeded the pace of cybersecurity, and it “determined that there is a small — and rapidly closing — window to ensure that IoT is adopted in a way that maximises security and minimises risk”.
It added that “if the country fails to do so it will be coping with the consequences for generations”.