We have been warned repeatedly to secure our mobile, tablet, computers, etc. But have you ever thought of securing your fish tank? You should have. A casino in North America faced attacked from cyber criminals by using the fish tank thermometer.
But how is it even possible? This has become possible because of the emerging technology named Internet of Things (IoT). In this technology, inanimate objects like elevators, cars, phones, refrigerators, etc. are connected with sensors which are in turn connected back to the networks and databases.
Things are getting smarter and they can be used to get more information. For example, Rolls Royce is using IoT to gain the data of the flight from IoT connected planes.
These kinds of devices that are connected to the internet helps to give several information the status of deliveries, hydration status of the field, etc. This same thing was used to track the temperature of the fish tank to avoid the sight of dead fish.
These kinds of devices are highly vulnerable to cyber attacks since they are not protected with cyber security tools as they are in laptops and mobile phones. Moreover, everyone is not aware of this risk.
According to a 2018 Business Insider report, cybersecurity executive Nicole Eagan of security firm Darktrace told the story while addressing a conference. “The attackers used that (a fish-tank thermometer) to get a foothold in the network,” she recounted. “They then found the high-roller database and then pulled that back across the network, out the thermostat, and up to the cloud.”
So, the question arises that how we will we keep ourselves safe from the such incidents. The only way is to keep ourselves updated about the threats and consult with cyber security experts regularly about the security of all the connected devices.
Link: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/368943?&web_view=true
