This week’s Smart World Problems edition features how denial-of-service (DoS) attacks are evolving in today’s connected world, the impact of a smart home outage and a report regarding the growing privacy and security concerns of connected homes.

Hackers now use printers, routers and cameras for distributed denial-of-service attacks

According to the bi-annual Distributed Denial of Service Threat Report  from anti-DDoS attack firm NSFocus, hackers are now utilizing the Internet of Things to perform attacks. The attackers are said to use connected printers, routers and cameras to flood targeted websites with useless traffic to incapacitate them for a few minutes or even for hours. The report also stated that more connected devices with a public IP address and vulnerable operating system that connect to the network leads to the growth of Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP)-based amplification attacks.

The report went on to state that attackers are getting smarter, conducting short attacks to improve efficiency as well as to distract the attention of IT personnel away from the actual intent of the attack, which could be injecting malware or stealing data. Attackers’ priority targets include retailers, entertainment and gaming companies.

“We are watching the evolution of attack technologies that amount to nothing less than ‘bullying’ (flood attacks) and ‘leveraging’ (resource exhaustion) tactics that enhance the impact by exploiting network bandwidth. To counteract these assaults, organizations must look to traffic- cleaning devices in conjunction with other security protocols,” Yonggang Han, COO of global business, NSFOCUS, said.

Wink outage and the troubles of smart homes

Quirky Inc. recently rolled out a security update to its Wink Hub but the update did not go as smoothly as planned, ultimately rendering the updated devices useless. Many Wink Hub users were no longer able to remotely control and monitor their connected appliances using their smartphones, defeating the purpose of a smart home.

The problem caused by the security update cannot be resolved remotely or with another update, thus Quirky is asking for those affected to either fix the Wink Hub on their own using their guided tutorial which can be found on http://recovery.wink.com, or have the device replaced by visiting https://wink.typeform.com/to/WflSEX. The replacement device is expected to arrive a few days after the request has been processed. Quirky is also giving away a $50 Wink gift card to all affected parties.

Consumers now more concerned with privacy and security related to smart homes

A recent report by Parks Associate Inc. revealed that 47 percent of U.S. broadband households have privacy or security concerns about smart home devices, and these concerns are only heightened with recent reports of baby monitors and web cameras being hacked.

Tom Kerber, Director of Research, Home Controls & Energy, Parks Associates recommends that companies need to reinforce the security of the connected products they offer, as well as ensure that consumers’ privacy is protected.

The report also stated that consumers will be more at ease using these smart home solutions if the companies offering these solutions offer a bill of rights that allows them to remain invisible, approve who uses the data and what data is to be erased.

“Finding the right balance between ease-of-use and security is a challenge in designing and deploying smart home products,” said Maia Hinkle, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. “Consumers do not want to have to enter a password just to turn on a light, so the market needs solutions that are cross-platform and user friendly. Consumers expect convenience and control both with their smart devices and the data that the devices produce.”