IP Converge Data Services, Inc. (IPC). recently warned the heightened risk of Internet attacks throughout the Internet of Things (IoT).
“The IoT poses a looming threat on online security and could lead to increased [denial of distribution of service] and other cyber attacks. Now more than ever, it will be easier for hackers to cause breaches in Internet security,” IPC Director for Product Management and Marketing Niño Valmonte said in a statement.
The IoT is defined as the network of physical objects or “things” embedded with electronics, softwares and sensors. The IoT is seen to increase the value and service of connectivity via the automation of data exchange between the manufacturer, operator and other connected devices.
Citing a report on DDoS defense, Valmonte said the IoT poses a greater challenge to the Philippines, “considering that the eventual widespread acceptance of IoT will impact how defense strategies are designed in mitigating attacks from that source.”
“We saw how bandwidth-level DDoS attacks, the insertion of intrusion code and routine outages were the norm in 2014 worldwide,” Nexusguard Chief Scientist Terrence Gareau said in the report cited by Valmonte.
Gareau said the company see the rise this year of “zero-plus attacks,” where a hacker can turn a Web server into a DDoS attack bot in less than 24 hours. He added that they also expect multivector attacks and amplified reflective attacks this year.
He pointed out that hackers “are going to have a field day” as more and more devices become interconnected with each other, such as smartwatches, smartphones, baby monitors and home security systems. “Coupled with the security, physical and software limitations inherent in these devices, it becomes all too easy to launch intrusion probes and outright attacks on these inter-linked devices.”
Once these happen, Gareau said hackers can turn these compromised devices into infection platforms by simply injecting them with malware, which, in turn, can be easily spread onto the Internet network that these devices are connected to, and used to launch attacks against selected targets.
“Security gaps in the IoT linkage could conceivably lead to increased bandwidth attacks that can trigger massive overloads on the Internet, stressing the worldwide system into tripping into a global outage. Essential Internet core functionalities can be compromised; for example, concerned hacks on domain name systems and border gateway protocol can cause the rerouting of Internet traffic into compromised sites for malware infection, or worse, lead to outright outages.”
According to Valmonte, the increasing sophistication of the attacks is seen to still ride on the use of DDoS as a vector of delivering malware. “But with the development of new platforms such as IoT, cyberattacks will become easily amplified, leading to a deeper and broader impact on how we interact over the world wide web.”