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Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

Some Basic Rules for Securing Your IoT Stuff

Summary: Krebs on Security published a six-rule primer for consumers on securing IoT devices, covering keeping devices behind a firewall, changing default credentials, updating firmware, disabling UPnP, avoiding P2P-capable devices, and treating cheap devices with suspicion. The piece notes that throughout 2016 and 2017, attacks from massive botnets made up entirely of hacked IoT devices prompted expert warnings, and that many cameras and DVRs have hidden, undocumented backdoor accounts that changing the default password does not close.

Bottom line: The article's own caveat is the stake: for many IoT devices, particularly security cameras and DVRs, changing the default password does nothing to prevent them from being reachable and vulnerable once online, which is why keeping them behind a firewall matters more than credential hygiene. Those same devices are the raw material for the botnets that defined 2016 and 2017.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Endpoint & Network Security
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