Everyday Electronics Which Can Be Hacked
There is a rise of Internet of Things and all those smart devices which can be controlled remotely. It has really changed the present tech scenario. But as said :-“With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility”.
There has been a rising concern of all those devices which can be easily hacked.Here’s a list of all those things which you didn’t believe could be hacked:-
1. Smart Tv’s:-
With the increase in Netflix subscription, there is also a increase in sales of Smart Tv’s. Now it can be found in every homes. It has also a given hackers a opportunity to get user’s data. A prankster or a neighbouring teen could switch channels on you, order movies you don’t want, or blast the volume when you least expect it.Those hackers can easily mine the data of the payments of Netflix or Amazon Prime Services. Many researchers have found that manufacturers set the same default passwords for the same type of devices, and often users don’t bother to change them. Which means a hacker has to gain access to any one of the devices, and then the whole network of connected devices is controlled.
2. Security Cameras:-
Have you heard of famous term ‘God’s Eye’ in Fate of the Furious.It is a specialized hacking device created by Ramsey to hack any type of technology using a camera. But in the real world, this can be done easily. As of now, almost every organisation or a company uses CCTV’s to track the record of productions and all other processes. Hackers can access those cloud storage where the record has been stored and can easily access video and audio feeds, disable the devices, and execute arbitrary code through the cloud. This leads to a rising concern of privacy among the users.
3. Self Driving Cars:-
Google and Uber have been creating and researching of some prototypes of self-drving cars. Now as you can imagine, what would happen if the cars driving on their own gets hacked and controlled by the hackers.
If these cars are hacked, it allows a malicious remote attacker, who can conceal their identity and location, to gain direct control over a compromised vehicle’s throttle, brake and steering. A group of Chinese researchers at DEF CON 24 showed how to confuse the collision-avoidance systems on Audi and Tesla models, including making real cars “disappear” from navigation screens. This really possess a huge danger to the user’s safety and others on the road.
4. Smart Refrigerator:-
In one of the episodes of Sillicon Valley you might have seen how Gilfoyle hacked all the smart refrigerators through Anton. Now a days the refrigerators could be controlled remotely via WiFi to controll temperature and product quality of the food. If the hacker got access to those devices, they can easily control, they can easily degrade the food items. Any device or appliance in your home that is connected can be a gateway into your entire home. So hacker can use this as an advantage to controll other devices. What’s even horrifying is that Samsung smart fridges were wired in a way that left users’ Google log-in credentials up for grabs.
5. Prison Cell Doors:-
If you have seen Mr.Robot, you might have seen how Elliot got access to the jail’s network by getting flash drive connected to one of the computers in jail network. Many prison doors are now controlled by computers which are connected to a central jail network. So if any hacker gets control of the jail, all the prisoners will get released and can cause a steep rise in traffic of 911 headquarters.
6. Kids Tracking Devices:-
With the rising concern of parents for the safety of their children, they use many tracking devices on their kids. They mostly work by connecting to the GPS and giving live updates about their locations. Some researchers has shown how to hack into Zoombaks, most common brand of GPS tracking device, to follow users. Later they were patched after the discovery. But it shows how dangerous it could be for the children and parents, if any such hacking incident occurs.
7. Traffic Lights:-
Have you ever been stuck in a traffic jam, thinking to control all the traffic signal as per your benefit? Well you are not alone.
But now security researchers have hacked traffic lights in real life and say it’s easy to do; a person only needs a laptop and wireless card operating on the same 5.8 gigahertz frequency as the wirelessly networked traffic lights.There was a topic of hacking trafiic control lights on DEFCON 22 by
IOActive Lab’s Cesar Cerrudo.He said that:-” Anyone will be able to hack these devices and mess with traffic control systems since there is no patch available”. Well security researchers from the University of Michigan did hack nearly 100 wirelessly networked traffic lights and were able to change the state of the lights on command.
8. Air Traffic Control Systems:-
In a world, full of people travelling to different destinations, there must be enough airplanes for their service. There has been a rise in air traffic since fares became lower. All those traffics are being controlled by the ATC Systems. But at DEFCON 20, a canadian hacker Brad showed, how easy
it would be to hack into the next-generation air-traffic-control system being deployed worldwide. If once, a hacker gets control of system, he/she might easily intercept and interfere with ground communications, which could lead to disappearance of aircraft on the radar or even create a ghost airplane on the radar.
