Is the Internet of Things Growing Too Fast for Everyone’s Good?

The Internet of Things is no longer a pipe dream that could become a major influencer in the technology market. It is now a reality, and as such, you need to take measures to ensure that it doesn’t become a major issue for your business. How big is the Internet of Things, truly, and how does this influence your business? Is there even any hope that you can protect yourself from it? Read on to find out.

In fact, it wasn’t so long ago that the Internet of Things became a notoriously dangerous entity, and it’s all thanks to a little something called a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. A DDoS attack is an attack that uses many hacked devices to target a system. In this case, the devices were infected with a malware variant known as Mirai. Together, the devices created a massive botnet that was used to attack Dyn, one of the largest domain name providers out there. But the real victims of this attack were much more widespread than just Dyn--any services that relied on its services, including Amazon and Twitter, were also influenced by the attack.

This fear of a major mobile device botnet is what fuels the debate about the future of the Internet of Things and brings into question whether or not its rapid growth is something to be concerned about. When millions of devices can be connected to create a malicious network and orchestrate a massive attack that downs even the sturdiest of networks, you know that you’re dealing with a formidable force. The Mirai botnet specifically targeted devices that haven’t changed their default passwords and considering how few users actually change them in the first place, it seems that this tactic was quite successful.

If you take a moment to consider this, it seems likely that the more devices are out there, the more contentious security becomes - not just for the business environment, but on a personal level as well. Most of the devices used in this way aren’t devices that you would typically think of as having connected features. Some examples are automobiles, kitchen appliances, and even home controlling devices such as lights or thermostats. Naturally, the more devices you have in any given area, the more likely it is that there will be security issues in regard to them, so how can your organization ensure that it’s not going to be taken advantage of by a rogue botnet?

It’s incredibly important that your business prepare for any instances of potential malicious activity both on and around your mobile devices, including any connected devices on your network. If possible, change any default passwords found on your devices, and protect your devices with a mobile device management solution. All of this should be in preparation of a worst-case scenario--a device being controlled remotely by an external threat.

Does your business need security solutions? Computerware can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (703) 821-8200.