In Houston, Texas, a one-year-old baby named Samantha was safe in her room, monitored by the watchful eye of a Foscam security camera. The camera was mounted on the child's wall, next to stickers of a lion and some trees. It allowed Samantha's parents to keep tabs on their daughter even if they'd left her with the nanny. But Samantha's parents weren't the only ones peaking through the security lens. One day, while Samantha's nanny was changing the baby's diaper, she heard a male voice coming from camera.
"That's a stinky diaper," the voice said.
"One day, while Samantha's nanny was changing the baby's diaper, she heard a male voice coming from the security camera."
So yeah, that's more than a little creepy. But it gets worse. The nanny told Samantha's parents, who immediately tried to get to the bottom of the problem. The issue, as it turned out, is that an individual had taken advantage of the fact that the Wi-Fi-connected camera wasn't password protected and someone hacked into the network. From there, the cybercriminal had been able to watch the baby. And this wasn't some remotely located hacker either. Instead, it was likely that this was someone who was within 300 to 500 feet of the child's bedroom.
Clearly, this is nothing short of a nightmare scenario. But by consulting an IT expert, Samantha's parents were able to better guard the security camera from outside intruders. Still, the question remains: If cybercriminals aren't just hacking computers but also spying on kids, what else are they capable of doing?
An Evolving Threat Landscape
Compare a hack today to one from 25 years ago and the latter looks like straight-up child's play. That's because it is. In the past quarter-century or so, cybercrime has evolved from being a nuisance to a major threat on international security. Back in 1982, for instance, when the "Elk Cloner" virus hit Apple computers, the "victims" of it only had to suffer through reading a crappy poem before their computers returned to unaffected functionality. These days, though, cybercriminals demand money, steal credit card numbers by the millions, and recently succeeded in temporarily shutting down a major movie studio.
And as the baby monitor incident illustrates, the ambitions of cybercriminals extend beyond computers and smartphones. In an increasingly connected world, every smart device is a potential target. Here are some of the things that could come under cyberattack in the near future:
- Cars: New smart car designs are cropping up left and right, and soon they'll be crowding our highways and city streets. But as IEEE Spectrum's Philip Ross pointed out, "The electronic systems of a smart car present many weak points to would-be intruders, and the problem will get worse as cars start sharing information with each other." This could present a huge problem, since a hacker taking control of a car when it's in auto-driving mode could lead to major issues and even loss of life. Therefore, it's important that smart car technology does not outpace the resources to protect it.
- Houses/Hotels: Imagine you're sitting at home alone when all of a sudden every device in your house starts going haywire. Having seen Paranormal Activity, you recognize a possession when you see one. And in this case, you'd be right – but there will be nothing paranormal about the force possessing your house. As USA Today has pointed out, "With Internet controls now being built into millions of appliances, it's likely we'll see successful smart home-hack attacks sooner rather than later." That's a pretty terrifying prospect. I mean, just imagine a hacker gaining access to your smart thermostat system and turning the house up to 100 degrees.
In Defending Against Attacks, Follow Basic Prep Steps
"By taking pretty basic security steps, you can significantly limit the possibility of getting hacked."
The prospect of your car or your baby's security camera being commandeered by a hacker is terrifying. Luckily, though, it's not something you're powerless to prevent. By taking pretty basic security steps, you can significantly limit the possibility of part of your life getting hacked. In the case of Samantha's video monitor, for instance, the baby's parents didn't have to go out of their way to protect the camera from malicious eyes. All they had to do was take advantage of a password-protect feature that already existed for the camera. Here are some of the security features that you should definitely activate in your connected life:
- Two-factor authentication: Multi-factor authentication is one of the easiest ways to protect your accounts from malicious access. What this entails is implementing an additional identity-verifying wall on top of your username/password, so that if a hacker gains your login data he or she will still not be able to breach your account. Usually, two-factor authentication involves a security code being sent to your mobile device. And the great thing is that many websites offer it. Here's a handy guide of where to implement 2FA on your favorite sites.
- PIN codes on mobile devices: Let's say you leave your iPad on the subway. If you're like most people, you probably have your entire life crammed into that device. And if it's not protected by a passcode, then your personal data becomes free for the taking. That's why it's vital that you have a passcode setup for any mobile device you use.
By taking the proper steps, you can secure yourself in a threat-heavy world.
