Security News
A report from consumer advocates Which? highlights the shockingly short lifespan of "Smart" appliances, with some losing software support after just a few years, despite costing vastly more than "Dumb" alternatives. Some devices like Samsung's Smart Fridge Freezers include large touchscreen displays, allowing users to do tasks that would otherwise be performed on a smartphone or computer.
The Federal Trade Commission has approved a settlement with Canadian smart lock maker Tapplock, which allegedly falsely claimed that its devices were designed to be "Unbreakable." Toronto-based Tapplock, Inc. is an Internet of Things technology company that provides smart security solutions for both business and end-users alike.
Cybersecurity needs to be central to every business strategy today. These questions move the cybersecurity expert from execution to a strategic business partner that front loads and processes more of the business context prior to making recommendations on a path to protect the business.
The city of Las Vegas and NTT Corporation announced the Accelerate Smart project has expanded to include two new locations - the city's Community Healing Garden and a portion of Las Vegas Boulevard at South Main Street and East St. Louis Avenue. As part of the partnership, NTT and the city plan to further expand the smart cities project to Bob Baskin Park, Rotary Park, Stupak Park and Ethel Pearson Park this summer before adding six additional parks by the end of 2020.
Advanced hackers could leverage unconventional, new attack vectors to sabotage smart manufacturing environments, according to Trend Micro. "Past manufacturing cyber attacks have used traditional malware that can be stopped by regular network and endpoint protection. However, advanced attackers are likely to develop Operational Technology specific attacks designed to fly under the radar," said Bill Malik, vice president of infrastructure strategies for Trend Micro.
In 1965, Gordon Moore published a short informal paper, Cramming more components onto integrated circuits. Based on not much more but these few data points and his knowledge of silicon chip development - he was head of R&D at Fairchild Semiconductors, the company that was to seed Silicon Valley - he said that for the next decade, component counts by area could double every year.
With the current heightened requirement for IoT security, we are releasing this compilation of older findings to further advise all owners of the affected devices to apply the latest updates to their devices to increase their security and reduce exposure to outside attacks. "We found that security vulnerabilities in IoT devices are a prevalent issue. Our research also proves that flaws in settings, missing encryption or authentication are not exclusive to low-end cheap devices but are often present in high-end hardware too," says ESET Security and Awareness specialist Ondrej Kubovič.
Researchers have uncovered the biggest connected-TV ad fraud operation they've ever seen, fueled with fake ad views seen by bogus eyeballs that actually belonged to a bot network they named ICEBUCKET. Bot-mitigation security firm White Ops said on Thursday that at its peak - January 2020 - the ICEBUCKET bot operation impersonated more than 2 million people in over 30 countries. ICEBUCKET also cooked up 300 publishers out of thin air, then stole advertising dollars by tricking advertisers into thinking there were real people on the other side of the screen.
Router biz Linksys has reset all its customers' Smart Wi-Fi account passwords after cybercrims accessed a bunch and redirected hapless users to COVID-19 themed malware. Hackers with access to Linksys Smart Wi-Fi accounts were changing home routers' DNS server settings.
The Federal Trade Commission has slapped Tapplock, the maker of smart padlocks that it bills as "Unbreakable," with an official complaint that could lead to fines down the road. The agency alleges that the company engaged in false and deceptive claims about its security practices, after the lock was shown to be hackable. The $100 Tapplock smart locks are internet-connected and use fingerprint biometrics for security.