Many tech companies these days are pushing smart devices as a way to establish an Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. One of the main criticisms that many levied against IoT is that security would be a major factor that needs to be addressed. That worry has been completely justified as researchers from Princeton’s Center of Information Technology Policy found out that many of these devices aren’t as secure as they seem.
For starters, the researchers found out that Nest, a popular thermostat that was developed by Google’s parent company Alphabet, was leaking zip codes of the weather station that the user enters when configuring the device over the internet unencrypted. While it isn’t as bad as leaking the user’s actual zip code, the fact that Nest is leaking any sort of information unencrypted is a worrying discovery.
Nest isn’t the only one with security issues as the team discovered that Sharx security cameras transmits video feeds in the clear, allowing anyone with access to the owner’s network to intercept and watch the feed themselves. PixStar Digital Photoframe is a smart frame that pulls pictures from a user’s Facebook account without encrypting it before doing so, allowing packet sniffers the ability to steal those pictures.
The researchers have since stated that companies releasing smart devices needs to ensure that the device’s security are up to scratch. To do so, the researches have provided various methods in order to shore up the security for IoT-related devices.
Source: Freedom to Tinker, Motherboard
