As we are becoming more dependent on connected devices to run our homes, businesses and personal lives, cybersecurity has risen to the top of many users’ priority lists. The threats that IoT devices are facing are vastly different than those that traditional computers face, and require a new set of tools to defend themselves.
With a myriad of IoT device types, each with its own operating system software and features so it’s no surprise that malware attacks targeting these types of devices are increasing. The absence of standard software can pose difficulties when creating security tools that work on several devices.
In 2016, threat actors used an ingenuous hack on IoT devices to create one of the biggest botnet attacks in the history of the internet that caused chaos on the Internet and causing websites like The New York Times, Brian Krebs’s site and French web host OVH unavailable for hours. The attackers scanned the Internet for default usernames and passwords on IoT devices, then assembled an army of them to launch the DDoS attack.
Antiviruses and IoT play a vital role in defending against these types of threats. However, this type of security software must increase its surveillance to include monitoring how IoT devices communicate with each other as well as the outside world, while also maintaining strong password security practices, two-factor authentication and up-to-date patching. In conjunction with other security options, these measures form an effective defense against IoT threats.