Not so smart devices

Have you ever noticed how many of household items these days are computerized and are able to connect to the Internet? An article written by The Economist explains just that and most importantly, the dangers that are associated with it. Since the recent advancements in technology, the Internet has become much more reliable and efficient. In addition, marketing techniques have been up to par with the growth of technology by adding features to household items that are able to connect to the Internet. Some examples of these are modern televisions called “Smart TV’s” that allow the user to roam the Internet by the touch of a button. You can now also turn on your washing machine via the Internet while you’re at work and can even have your refrigerator send an email to alert you that you’re out of orange juice. Now, you may be asking yourself “How are any of these things dangerous?” Well, any computer security expert supports the idea that the use of appliances that have Internet capabilities has its downsides. By simply having a device connected to the Internet, its user can already be at risk without even being aware. As well, someone else other than the user, most likely an intruder, can easily connect to the appliance and force it do malicious things. In fact, on the 16^th of January of this year, a computer security company called Proofpoint found that a variety of devices, including webcams, home routers and even refrigerators; were sending phishing emails, otherwise known as “scam emails” that might contain malware and other dangerous viruses that steal information from the average computer user. Obviously everyone is curious to know who exactly would be doing such a thing? Well, let’s just say that it wasn’t the device owner who was requesting that their devices do such undesired actions. In fact, in these cases, those who were activating this malware were intruders who did not have permission to access the mentioned devices’ Internet capabilities. From this report, it was found that over one hundred thousand devices were found sending over seven hundred and fifty thousand emails that included malicious malware. Imagine what other Internet security companies can find? The question here is how secure is technology today? How can someone feel safe when the simplest of our technologies are susceptible to Internet threats? Although the article published by The Economist does not address such questions, my computer science expertise helps me to find answers to the questions that most are interested in. The most prevalent question that has yet to be asked throughout this discussion is: How can owners of these devices prevent intruders from hacking into their devices? Although there is an answer, the answer is not as simple as many would hope for, due to its many different complexities. Just to give a brief and simple idea of how to do this, it is important that owners of these devices have their devices connected to a secure network that only the device owner has access to. For example, when connecting any device to a home router, it is essential that the homeowner change not only the username of the router, but also the password. Not only is it necessary to change the password, but the device owner especially needs to make the password difficult to guess. This is possible by using a combination of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, as well as guaranteeing that the password being used is not a word defined in the dictionary. This makes it much more difficult for intruders to hack, thus, preventing any type of malware from accessing such devices.

Spam in the fridge; computer security. (2014, Jan 25). The Economist, 410, 68-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docvie/14917213?accountid=14541