Recent studies carried out by HP (Hewlett-Packard) show that bout seventy five percent of all internet related devices are at the risk of being hacked or compromised. The study examined webcams, smart TVs, thermostats and other smart devices and exposed up to 25 vulnerabilities. Most of which arose as a result of poor password strength and weak protection software.
Eighty percent of the examined devices did not test password strength or reject weak passwords. This puts users at risk as personal information can be hijacked by cloud services.
Lots of buzz has been created about the Internet of Things but too little has been said about Internet of Things security. As such HP created the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) to educate the public on the integral aspects concerning Internet of Things security.
Gartner, an information technology research firm, revealed that as of 2009 there were approximately 9 million individual Internet of Things objects in the world. Gartner forecasts that by the year 2020 there would be approximately 26 billion Internet of Things objects.
Gartner research director, Peter Middleton, stated that most of the devices that would be operated in the year 2020 have not been created yet. He expressed that product designers would continue to dig deeper into technology, exploiting available tools and thus create a glut of devices over the next few years.
Image credit: NKonnect Infoway
