A new report released on April 15 by Pwnie Express, a remote security monitoring vendor, warns about the risks inherent in the so-called “Internet of Evil Things” (IoET) and defines the key factors and threats facing businesses today. It also offers a framework for a comprehensive defense against the IoET.
“This report underscores the need for increased visibility and actionable intelligence on all devices across the enterprise to enhance an organization’s ability to quickly identify and thwart an attack,” said Paul Paget, CEO, Pwnie Express. “It’s our hope that by offering a classification structure for high-risk devices, infosec professionals are empowered to mobilize and begin assessing their security systems’ readiness to defend business-critical infrastructure against the IoET threat.”
Pwnie surveyed more than 600 security professionals for the report and some of the top findings were pretty interesting. More than 80 percent of the respondents said they were concerned that already have rogue or unauthorized devices operating undetected in their networks. They are perhaps concerned because almost 70 percent of them said they don’t have full visibility of all the wireless devices inside their networks. Scary. The last important thing is that the security folks said the most dangerous devices running today are rogue access points, MiFi and mobile hotspots.
“Cyber attackers seek the path of least resistance, often targeting devices and systems of branch locations, which are perceived to be less secure,” said Mark Arnold, Director Information Security, PTC. “It’s critical that enterprises implement innovative tools and policies across the entire organization to automatically detect the presence of unauthorized or mismanaged devices in real time, empowering security teams to respond quickly and effectively.”
Although it’s fun to refer to the IoT’s Evil Twin, the IoET isn’t a real thing yet. There have as of yet been no major breaches, remember. We’re at the beginning of an IoT-enabled world where these threats will become more likely, however. There is an emerging threat vector that will only grow as adoption of connected devices continues to expand.
The answer is simple: don’t freak out, and don’t be unprepared.
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
