3.7 Trojans in Household Appliances
273
Specialists of the provider of digital security solutions Avast have concluded that
almost half of all smart houses are vulnerable to cyberattacks. The Avast Smart Home
Report 2019 [30] contains the analysis results for 16 million smart house networks.
According to these data, 20.11% of houses contain more than five connected devices.
44.07% of such houses have at least one vulnerable device. These numbers indicate
the serious risk posed by the IoT technology for house owners. A single unprotected
device can compromise operation of the entire house network.
People who buy Smart TV sets to watch their favorite shows on Netflix or connect
baby monitors to the Internet are often unaware of how to ensure safety of these digital
appliances. In order to connect to a home network, the hacker only needs to find one
unprotected device. After that, the hacker gains access to all other devices, as well
as personal data stored or transmitted with the help of these devices, including realtime video broadcasting or voice messages. Simple security measures, such as using
complex passwords and two-factor authentication for protection of devices, timely
installation of patches, and updates of embedded software, significantly increase
reliability of a smart house.
According to the experts, vulnerability of most house devices (68.9% in Russia)
is caused by overly simple passwords and the use of one-factor authentication. The
latest security patches were not installed on 33.6% of all devices in Russia.
Avast researchers presented the list of five popular devices that are least protected
from hacker attacks: printer—32.9%; network device (connection point capable of
receiving and sending data, serving as a communication node)—28.9%; CCTV
camera—20.8%; network-attached storage (NAS)—7.8%; and media player (TV
set-top box, Chromecast, TiVo)—5.3%.
The most vulnerable household appliances: TV—46.4%; printer—15.4%; CCTV
camera—11.2%; media player—8.9%; and tablet—8.3%.
Printers turned out to be the most numerous vulnerable devices in the world. In
every country where the study was carried out, they occupied one of the top three lines
of this anti-rating; in the USA, Canada, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan,
they took the first place. Media players (set-top boxes, Chromecast, TiVo), which are
also included in the five worst-protected appliances, are the third most popular type
of IoT devices in any smart house. The first two are TV sets and printers.
These are only some examples of the phenomenon which has been growing
recently.
References
1. Malicious Logic Catalogue of US National Security Agency (Spigel). Part 1. Infrastructure/Klyachin A.I. Cybersecurity 2(3) (2014)
2. Malicious Logic Catalogue of US National Security Agency (Spigel). Part 2. Operator’s
workplace/A. Klyachin. Cybersecurity 4(7) (2014)
3. https://habrahabr.ru/post/209746/
4. A.I. Belous, V.A. Solodukha, S.V. Shvedov, Basics of designing high-speed electronic devices.
Short course “White Magic”. M.: Technosphere (2017)
273
Specialists of the provider of digital security solutions Avast have concluded that
almost half of all smart houses are vulnerable to cyberattacks. The Avast Smart Home
Report 2019 [30] contains the analysis results for 16 million smart house networks.
According to these data, 20.11% of houses contain more than five connected devices.
44.07% of such houses have at least one vulnerable device. These numbers indicate
the serious risk posed by the IoT technology for house owners. A single unprotected
device can compromise operation of the entire house network.
People who buy Smart TV sets to watch their favorite shows on Netflix or connect
baby monitors to the Internet are often unaware of how to ensure safety of these digital
appliances. In order to connect to a home network, the hacker only needs to find one
unprotected device. After that, the hacker gains access to all other devices, as well
as personal data stored or transmitted with the help of these devices, including realtime video broadcasting or voice messages. Simple security measures, such as using
complex passwords and two-factor authentication for protection of devices, timely
installation of patches, and updates of embedded software, significantly increase
reliability of a smart house.
According to the experts, vulnerability of most house devices (68.9% in Russia)
is caused by overly simple passwords and the use of one-factor authentication. The
latest security patches were not installed on 33.6% of all devices in Russia.
Avast researchers presented the list of five popular devices that are least protected
from hacker attacks: printer—32.9%; network device (connection point capable of
receiving and sending data, serving as a communication node)—28.9%; CCTV
camera—20.8%; network-attached storage (NAS)—7.8%; and media player (TV
set-top box, Chromecast, TiVo)—5.3%.
The most vulnerable household appliances: TV—46.4%; printer—15.4%; CCTV
camera—11.2%; media player—8.9%; and tablet—8.3%.
Printers turned out to be the most numerous vulnerable devices in the world. In
every country where the study was carried out, they occupied one of the top three lines
of this anti-rating; in the USA, Canada, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan,
they took the first place. Media players (set-top boxes, Chromecast, TiVo), which are
also included in the five worst-protected appliances, are the third most popular type
of IoT devices in any smart house. The first two are TV sets and printers.
These are only some examples of the phenomenon which has been growing
recently.
References
1. Malicious Logic Catalogue of US National Security Agency (Spigel). Part 1. Infrastructure/Klyachin A.I. Cybersecurity 2(3) (2014)
2. Malicious Logic Catalogue of US National Security Agency (Spigel). Part 2. Operator’s
workplace/A. Klyachin. Cybersecurity 4(7) (2014)
3. https://habrahabr.ru/post/209746/
4. A.I. Belous, V.A. Solodukha, S.V. Shvedov, Basics of designing high-speed electronic devices.
Short course “White Magic”. M.: Technosphere (2017)