Hardware

Research Finds Home Routers fill ranks of Fast Flux Botnets

Research from the firm Akamai finds cyber criminals are marrying vulnerable home routers to sophisticated “fast flux” command and control tools to create long-lived, cyber criminal infrastructure.

Hole in Mobile Apps Leave Home Automation Systems Vulnerable to Hacking

Mobile applications used with two, popular home automation platforms by Wink and Insteon fail to protect user login information, leaving the devices vulnerable to hacking, a researcher at Rapid7 found. 

A Year After Mirai: Insecure Devices are still a Huge Problem

In-brief: A year after Mirai, as many as 100,000 devices, globally, may be running some version of the Mirai malware, while countless others are vulnerable to being enlisted in a Mirai-like attack. Worse: these systems may not be patched for “years,” according to the SANS Internet Storm Center. 

A Right to Repair the Internet of Things? Spear Phishing Detection and Nonstop Attacks on DVRs

In-brief: In the latest Security Ledger podcast we talk about pending right to repair laws and their impact on the Internet of Things. Also:  Facebook’s Internet Defense Prize went to a better method for spear phishing detection. We talk to a member of the winning team. And, Johannes Ullrich of The Internet Storm Center joins us to talk about a study he did to measure the frequency of attacks on a common IoT device: digital video recorders.

A Year Later: FDA approves Software Fix for Security Flaws in Pacemakers

In-brief: The FDA as approved a software update to software security holes in pacemakers made by Abbott. But doctors and patients will have to weigh the risks of apply the patch.