Imagine having the peace of a restful night's sleep shattered by hearing the yells of an intruder's voice coming from the room of your sleeping infant. Scary. This is what happened to the Schrek family of Cincinnati. However there was no intruder - at least not physically. Their unsecured wireless baby-monitoring webcam had allowed a cracker (criminal hacker) - a virtual intruder - to violate their privacy, and the sanctity of their home.
As we progress further into the information age, connectivity of our devices is highly desirable - allowing almost seamless transfer of information from one device to another. For the Schrek's, this important information was being transferred from their baby's nursery through their wireless home network to their smartphones, so that they could both monitor their child where ever they were in the home.
Innovation, consumer demand and entrepreneurial ventures are driving the rapid increase in the regular household and office items that are now capable of being connected to our smartphones, our home or office network, and ultimately the Internet. This explosion of connected devices in the home and office, can be likened to increasing the number of doors and windows in your home. If a door or window is not locked, an intruder can enter through it.
Some device manufacturers have been very conscious of this and supply the device with default security settings and options that are ready for use straight out of the box. They do this however at the potential expense of market share, as the predetermined security settings will make it more difficult for some users to install. Consumers who are less technically inclined are more likely to purchase devices that are cheaper and are marketed to be easier to setup - and often the initial setup is made easier by disabling the security features by default. Many consumers may be falling for the trap of purchasing a product that is easy to install and has advertised security features built in to it, but never realising that extra steps are required beyond the easy setup to make the security features fully effective.
There is also the question of how well such devices are able to be secured. Your average home or small business computer is designed with the flexibility to be able to perform a multitude of different functions, and can generally be expected to run security software whilst being used for other activities. Big business, banks and government go a step further of using dedicated security devices in their networks that are purpose built for security. The increasing range of networked devices for the home and small office are designed almost solely for the performance of their main function as this cuts the cost of manufacturing the device. The implication is that such devices will not be able to be as effective in their application of security features, and may remain a soft-target for crackers due to this. And once crackers have found one weak link in your network defences, it gives them the opportunity to break down the rest of the defences
The range of consequences for not having a secure home network is increasing. With the continuing convergence of technology, the increased level of utilities, banking and corporate services enabling on-line interactions, and government service interactions with both individuals and business being pushed more and more on-line, the opportunity for identity and data theft is increasing. Certainly the events that the Schrek's experienced is a sign of an insidious and horrible violation of their privacy and safety - a home invasion where a device that they used for the safety of their child and their own piece of mind was turned against them.
The consequences need not be that drastic - not all crackers are out to empty your bank account and frighten your family. Some may be a lot more passive in their approach, making use of your Internet connection to conduct their downloads, a crime known as theft of service. Does your neighbour have fast Internet with a seemingly endless download limit? Or, is he using your Internet? When was the last time that you checked your Internet usage?
Next time you turn on your smart TV, or you walk past your ADSL modem, ask yourself, did you ever check the security settings? Are they on? Is your home network as secure as it could be?
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