As we are becoming more dependent on connected devices to manage our businesses, homes and daily lives cybersecurity has been elevated to the top of many peoples’ priority lists. But the type of threats that IoT devices are facing are vastly different from those found on traditional computers, and require a completely new set of tools and strategies to protect against them.
With a myriad of different IoT device types, each with its own operating system as well as software and functions It’s not a surprise that malware attacks targeting these kinds of devices are on the rise. The absence of standardized software can pose issues when trying to develop security tools that work on multiple devices.
In 2016 threat actors created one of the largest botnets of all time by executing a hack on IoT devices. This weakened a portion of the Internet, and made websites such as The New York Times’s website, Brian Krebs’s website and French web host OVH unreachable for hours. The attackers went through the Internet to find default usernames and passwords for IoT devices. They then gathered an army of these users to launch the DDoS attacks.
When it comes to securing against these types of threats, antiviruses and iot have a vital role to play. However, this type of security software should expand its vigilance to include monitoring how IoT devices communicate with each other as well as the outside world, as well as maintaining secure password practices, two-factor authentication and up-to-date patching. These measures, when paired with other security tools to protect against IoT threats, provide an effective defense.