Internet of Things will become the 'Internet of Vulnerabilities'

The Internet of Things will become the 'Internet of Vulnerabilities' in 2014 according to security company, Symantec.

Speaking in Auckland last week, Brenton Smith, Symantec's Pacific Region vice president and managing director, cautioned that while the Internet of Things offers much promise, it also offers new opportunities for attack.

“The Internet of Things is going to take off very quickly,” Smith says.

He says while companies such as telcos and utility companies rush to offer – and get – all the benefits potentially provided by sensors and devices, 'as a security company, we see a lot more exposure [to potential security issues] as a result'.

“There will be more and more devices for the bad guys to get ahold of,” Smith notes.

Earlier in the week, Symantec's official blog reported that the company had discovered a new Linux worm that appears to be engineered to target the Internet of Things.

“The worm is capable of attacking a range of small, internet-enabled devices in addition to traditional computers,” Kaoru Hayashi writes on the blog.

“Variants exist for chip architectures usually found in devices such as home routers, set-top boxes and security cameras.

"Although no attacks against these devices have been found in the wild, many users may not realise they are at risk, since they are unaware they own devices that run Linux.”

Hayashi notes that Linus runs not only on Intel-based computers, but on small devices with different CPUs, such as home routers, set-top boxes, security cameras and even industrial control systems.

“Some of these devices provide a web-based user interface for settings or monitoring, such as Apache Web servers and PHP servers.”

Symantec notes that security researchers have demonstrated attacks against smart televisions, medical equipment and security cameras, and a traffic shut down on a major tunnel in Israel was reportedly due to hackers accessing systems via a security camera system.

With no notification methods to notify users when vulnerabilities are discovered, and no user-friendly patching methods, Symantec is predicting 2014 will bring new threats 'in ways we've never seen before'.

Smith says other key trends for the year ahead include increasing demand for DLP and two-factor authentication and a move from BYOD to CYOD – choose your own device – and the associated security issues.

“These are things that are keeping us busy,” he notes.

The company is also keen to focus some of its energy on cyber bullying, in a move Smith says is 'not a revenue thing, but something we're very passionate about from the CEO down'.

The company is looking at ways to become more involved locally in cyber-bullying prevention.