- [Instructor] The internet of Things,
or IoT can be the source of major cybersecurity threats,
including data leakage,
distributed denial of service attacks,
and any attack that can be launched from botnets.
Let's take a look at what the Internet of Things is
and why it's part of the cybersecurity threat landscape.
More and more devices are being connected
to the internet in the name of convenience and control,
key drivers for the growth of IoT devices
include the rise of cloud computing
as the foundational technology for IoT,
plummeting cost of IoT devices, common usage of smartphones
and tablets to control IoT devices, and easy access to wifi.
Practically any electronic device can be connected
to the internet and become an IoT device.
Common IoT devices include smart home lights, switches,
thermostats, home appliances, TVs, security cameras,
and even locks.
Many health devices are also directly connected
to the internet, such as fitness trackers,
connected scales, pedometers, and sleep monitors.
Personal assistants that respond
to voice commands are also popular.
And of course, most modern vehicles are also IoT devices.
And the number of IoT devices is projected to grow
to more than 50 billion by 2025.
The problem is IoT devices are often connected
to the internet without thinking about their security
and IoT devices can be more vulnerable to attacks
than servers and network devices connected to the internet.
That's because they usually don't have enough
computing power to support basic protections
like antimalware and firewalls.
They also often have built in back doors for maintenance
with default passwords that can easily be found
on the internet, because these IoT devices
are usually directly connected to the internet,
attackers can easily exploit these
and other vulnerabilities with automated scripts.
Once they have control of an IoT device
it can be added to a botnet or used as a jumping off point
to attack other devices on the same network.
According to Symantec's internet security threat report,
routers and connected cameras are the IoT devices most
infected by malware and the main sources of IoT attacks,
accounting for over 90% of malicious activity.
One of the most dramatic examples of the threat
of unmanaged IoT devices is the Mirai botnet.
The attackers built their botnet army
by running a simple script against devices
on the internet that attempted to log in with 61
known IoT default passwords.
If they successfully logged in, the IoT device was infected
with malware that directed them to follow the instructions
of a central command and control system.
The attack was very effective.
It's estimated that there were nearly
half a million Mirai infected IoT devices,
mostly composed of closed circuit TV cameras,
DVRs, and routers.
They were used to conduct distributed denial service
or DDoS attacks against a wide variety of targets.
Some good news is governments
and regulatory bodies are recognizing the problem
of poor or no security standards
for devices connecting to the internet.
They're proposing minimum security standards
for device manufacturers and labeling to raise the awareness
of users about how secure their devices are.
These requirements are being enforced
as laws like the IoT cybersecurity improvement act
which was signed into US law in 2020,
but with next generation internet capabilities
like 5g dramatically increasing data speeds and throughput,
we may see IoT devices continue being a key player
on the cybersecurity threat landscape well into the future.