SCADA – ICS

Report: Hell is Unpatched Systems

One of the ‘subplots’ of the Internet of Things revolution concerns embedded devices. Specifically: the tendency of embedded devices to be either loosely managed or – in some cases – unmanageable.   The future holds the promise of more, not fewer of these. That’s the gist of a piece I wrote for InfoWorld, and that you can read here. In short: we’re already seeing the beginning of a shift on the threat landscape. While attacks against traditional endpoints (like Windows desktops, laptops and servers) are still the norm, there are more stories each day about cyber criminal groups and malicious actors who are compromising non-standard endpoints like home wifi routers.  In March, for example, the security consultancy Team Cymru identified a botnet consisting of some 300,000 compromised home routers and other in-home devices. The virus called “TheMoon” was also identified spreading between vulnerable home routers and other embedded devices. The […]

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Internet of Things and Enterprise Risk Panel

Video: The Internet of Things and Enterprise Risk

The Security Ledger recently hosted our inaugural event: The Security of Things Forum (SECOT). This was a high-energy, day long conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that brought together subject experts, executives and thought leaders from disparate areas like high tech, finance and industrial systems to talk about the tsunami of change that is the Internet of Things. One of the big questions hovering over the event: how will IoT technologies and services change the security paradigm that we’ve all be operating under- but especially in enterprises. In fact, IoT and enterprise was the topic of our very first discussion of the day: a panel chaired by Chris Rezendes of INEX Advisors, a leading consultancy focusing on IoT. SECoT Forum 2014 – Democratized Data, IOT and Enterprise Risk from Exhibitor Media Group on Vimeo It’s a really big and messy problem. As panelist Ken Pfeil of Pioneer Investments pointed out: the hack of […]

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GE Opens Purse To Boost IoT Security

One of the big questions looming over Internet of Things with regard to cyber security is how well legacy security products will adjust to the IoT context. I think its safe to say that many of the tools and technologies that populate traditional IT environments (think: antivirus) aren’t well suited to use with Internet of Things devices which are often power and resource-constrained. IoT is a “ten-years-from-now” problem for enterprises. But for manufacturers like GE, it’s a “today” problem. That’s why GE is already investing in technology that it thinks is well suited to securing IoT and industrial environments. Last week, the company announced one such deal: acquiring the firm WurldTech of Vancouver Canada. The deal, announced on May 9th, will add Wurldtech’s technology and professional services to GE’s portfolio, with GE saying that Wurldtech products and services will “help to enhance the reliability of Industrial Internet operations.” Wurldtech makes security […]

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Blade Runner Redux: Do Embedded Systems Need A Time To Die?

The plot of the 1982 film Blade Runner (loosely based on the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick) turns on the question of what makes us ‘human.’ Is it memories? Pain? Our ability to feel empathy? Or is it merely the foreknowledge of our own certain demise? In that movie, a group of rebellious, human-like androids – or “replicants” – return to a ruined Earth to seek out their maker. Their objective: find a way to disable an programmed ‘end of life’ in each of them.  In essence: the replicants want to become immortal. It’s a cool idea. And the replicants – pre-loaded with fake memories and histories – pose an interesting philosophical question about what it is that makes us humans. Our artificial intelligence isn’t quite to the ‘replicant’ level yet (the fictional tale takes place in 2019, so we have time). But some […]

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connected car - audi-thumbnail

Traffic Monitoring Tech Vulnerable To Hacking

Connected cars aren’t the only transportation innovation that’s coming down the pike (pun intended). As we’ve noted before: smart roads and smart infrastructure promise even more transformative changes than – say – having Siri read  your text messages to you through your stereo system. The applications of smart road and connected infrastructure are almost limitless. But at this early stage (mostly proof of concept), much of the light and heat around smart roads is around applications of remote sensors at the roadside, or embedded in the road surface to identify problems like icy roads, the presence of liquids, traffic density, vehicle and pedestrian detection and more. For a nice overview of some sensor applications, check out this video from Liebelium. But that doesn’t mean that attacks against smart infrastructure are problems for the future. The security researcher Cesar Cerrudo points out in a blog post over at IOActive.com that many […]

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