Kirk was executive editor for security and technology for Information Security Media Group. Reporting from Sydney, Australia, he created "The Ransomware Files" podcast, which tells the harrowing stories of IT pros who have fought back against ransomware.
Fast charging is a blessing, but there's a downside: The firmware running on some chargers can be maliciously modified. Researchers say chargers can be hacked to deliver more electricity than a device can handle.
Cybercriminals are exploiting and using weak IoT devices in new ways, including as proxies for e-commerce fraud, says Allison Nixon of Unit 221b, who predicts that the next mass attack on the scale of Mirai will likely be way worse.
Twitter says attackers who hijacked more than 130 high-profile Twitter accounts used social engineering to bypass its defenses, including two-factor authentication on accounts. Experts say companies must have defenses in place against such schemes, which have long been employed by fraudsters.
It's illegal in the U.S. to circumvent technological measures on software, either for security research or to install a fix. But Kyle Wiens of iFixit says the growing "right to repair" movement is seeking to put the power back into the hands of device owners.
It's common for security researchers to be ignored when reporting a software vulnerability. The latest example - vulnerabilities found by Independent Security Evaluators in a router made by China-based Tenda.
Enterprises want to make greater use of connected devices to develop new services and gain efficiencies, but security is a paramount concern. Piers Hogarth-Scott and Katherine Robins of KPMG break down the risks and the challenges around IoT security.
The lessons of the Mirai botnet's abuse of internet-connected devices four years ago have been taken to heart, says Aaron Guzman of OWASP, which is working with others to improve security benchmarks and testing for connected devices.
Manufacturers are increasingly adding connectivity to everyday devices, but it's not always evident how privacy and security is managed. Detailed technical labels could give purchasers more insight, says Pardis Emami-Naeini, a post-doctoral scholar at Carnegie Mellon University.
Connected devices for consumers don't come with service-level agreements agreements. The travails of Petnet, the maker of an automatic, cloud-enabled pet feeder that has now gone offline offer a tale of caution that points to the need for stronger consumer protection for cloud-enabled devices.
With more than 1,000 IoT security guidelines, recommendations and best practices, which ones should an organization follow? Researchers at Carleton University in Canada say 91 percent of the guides are outcome-based, which are not necessarily easy for manufacturers to follow.
Voice-controlled assistants can be fooled by replaying a recording of someone's voice. But researchers with Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization and Samsung Research say they've developed a lightweight software tool to detect such attempts, which are difficult to defend against.
The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new risks for enterprises as employees access corporate networks and applications from home. Sudip Banerjee of Zscaler says that cloud security solutions offer advantages over VPNs.
Japan has been scanning its entire IPv4 address space to find insecure home routers, web cameras and sensors. The results are encouraging, and the country's program could serve as a model for other nations aiming to avoid large-scale IoT security problems.
IoT devices can be made cheaply and quickly. But as a result, they may lack adequate security features. The Atlantic Council is proposing regulations that would require technology retailers to sell devices that meet security standards, which would, in turn, put pressure on IoT component makers.
Without labelling or standards, consumers and enterprises face challenges when buying IoT devices. Brad Ree of the ioXt Alliance describes work underway to harmonize the security environment.
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