Two years after a false EAS alert about an incoming ICBM sowed terror in Hawaii, and seven years after security researchers warned about insecure, Internet connected Emergency Alert System (EAS) hardware, scores of the devices across the U.S. remain un-patched and vulnerable to cyber attack, according to security experts.
A massive database holding more than 114 million records of U.S. citizens and companies was discovered sitting online unprotected due to misconfigured search, a data leak that is estimated to affect about 83 million people.
What kind of stuff is lurking out there on the vast (and growing) Internet of Things? A recent story in Forbes makes the point that its a lot more varied than you might think – everything from Caterpillar trucks to public school classrooms to a crematorium. And “yes,” I said “crematorium.” The idea that surveillance cameras can be accessed from the public Internet isn’t really new. Security researchers have been showing off ways to sidestep security features for IP enabled surveillance cameras for years. We wrote last week about the Federal Trade Commission’s case against a California company, TRENDNet, which made a line of balky, in secure home surveillance gear. But Kashmir Hill makes the point in her story that surveillance cameras are just the tip of the iceberg. Hill interviewed security researchers and professional Shodan jockeys, who use that hardware focused search engine to uncover supposedly secure equipment and industrial control […]
