IoT baby monitor style hacks still a threat

UK watchdog barks at careless consumers

Lessons have not been learned from an incident where a Russian website provided links to access baby monitor cameras, according to the UK’s data protection watchdog.

The website allowed people to watch footage from insecure cameras around the world, prompting a warning from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) back in November 2014. But even two years on people are still not ensuring the security of their connected devices.

Internet of Things (IoT) products such as baby monitors, music systems and photo or document storage devices are frequently left online with weak or default passwords.

This lack of security means hackers armed with nothing more sophisticated than a search engine query would be able to locate vulnerable devices and, with a little more effort, use these insecure devices to scout around or compromise other devices on the same home network, the ICO warns. ®