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Vint Cerf: CS Changes Needed To Address IoT Security, Privacy

April 2, 2014 Paul Roberts

The Internet of Things has tremendous potential but also poses a tremendous risk if the underlying security of Internet of Things devices is not taken into account, according to Vint Cerf, Google’s Internet Evangelist. Cerf, speaking in a public Google Hangout on Wednesday, said that he’s tremendously excited about the possibilities of an Internet of billions of connected objects, but said that securing the data stored on those devices and exchanged between them represents a challenge to the field of computer science – and one that the nation’s universities need to start addressing. “I’m very excited,” Cerf said, in response to a question from host Leo Laporte. He cited the Philips HUE lightbulb as an example of a cool IoT application. “So you’re going to be able to manage quite a wide range of appliances at home , at work and in your car. Eventually, that will include things you’re […]

Perverse Security Incentives Abound In Mobile App Space

March 24, 2014 Paul Roberts

Security problems abound in the mobile device space – and many of them have been well documented here and elsewhere. While mobile operating systems like Android and iOS are generally more secure than their desktop predecessors, mobile applications have become a major source of woe for mobile device owners and platform vendors. To date, many of the mobile malware outbreaks have come by way of loosely monitored mobile application stores (mostly in Eastern Europe and Russia). More recently, malicious mobile ad networks have also become a way to pull powerful mobile devices into botnets and other malicious online schemes. But my guests on the latest Security Ledger podcast point out that mobile application threats are poised to affect much more than just mobile phone owners. Jon Oberheide, the CTO of DUO Security and Zach Lanier, a researcher at DUO, note that mobile OS platforms like Android are making the leap […]

Linux IoT Worm Still Alive And Mining Virtual Coins

March 20, 2014 Paul Roberts

A few months ago we wrote about a new Internet worm notable because it spread between devices running the Linux operating systems, and because it had the ability to infect a range of non-PC devices including set top boxes. Symantec was quick to suggest that the worm, Linux.Darlloz, was the first “Internet of Things” malware. Now, three months later, Symantec is updating the story: noting that Darlloz is still out there, and seems to have been put to use mining for virtual currencies. Writing on Symantec’s blog on Thursday, analyst Karou Hayashi said that researchers there discovered a new variant of Darlloz in January that included code changes and improvements from the version discovered at the end of 2013. Darlloz is versatile: it can run on devices using a variety of architectures, including the common Intel x86, but also hardware running the ARM, MIPS and PowerPC architectures. Those are more common […]

Is Refrigerator Spam Really In Our Future?

March 12, 2014 Paul Roberts

I came across an interesting post over on Wearable World News today titled “The Danger of Smart Spam In the Internet of Things.” The article, by Jessica Groopman, ran yesterday and provides a kind of conceptual overview of the security and IoT space. I think Goodman gets it mostly right: she talks about the proliferation of device types and platforms that will (or already does) characterize the Internet of Things. With hundreds of billions (compared with hundreds of millions) of Internet connected endpoints, cyber criminals, hacktivists and other bad actors have an even greater ability to create armies of compromised endpoints and harness their collective power in attacks. Goodman also gets it right when she notes that many “smart” devices run commodity operating systems like Linux and don’t require lots of special effort to reverse engineer. Finally, IoT devices frequently are low power and embedded systems that lack the processing […]

Mobile Devices Taking Part In Enterprise DDoS Attacks?

January 14, 2014 Paul Roberts

Mobile phones have long been on the radar for enterprises concerned about data loss and the spread of malicious code. But a report from the firm Prolexic suggests that they may also be taking part in massive denial of service (DoS) attacks against enterprise networks. The firm Prolexic said that data it collected in the final quarter of 2013 suggests that mobile devices are playing a growing role in distributed DoS (or DDoS) attacks against the firm’s enterprise customers. “Malicious actors now carry a powerful attack tool in the palm of their hands, which requires minimal skill to use,” said Stuart Scholly, president of Prolexic, in a statement. [Read more Security Ledger coverage of Denial of Services Attacks.] Infecting unwitting victims with a malicious program is a common method used by botnet operators whose platforms are behind many large-scaled DDoS attacks. But Scholly said that mobile devices and mobile DDoS […]