During the Cyber Security Weekend 2019 conference in Cape Town, Kaspersky Lab conducted an interesting experiment: invited 13-year-old child prodigy Reuben Paul with the pseudonym Cyber Ninja demonstrated the vulnerability of the Internet of Things to the assembled public. In less than 10 minutes, he took control of the drone during a controlled experiment. He did this with the help of the vulnerabilities he identified in the drone software.
The purpose of this demo is to raise the awareness of developers of IoT smart devices ranging from drones to smart home appliances, smart home electronics and connected toys to the issue of device security and protection. Sometimes manufacturing companies are in a hurry to bring their solutions to the market, wanting to bypass competitors and increase sales.
“In the pursuit of profits, companies either don't take security seriously enough or ignore it altogether, and smart devices are of great interest to hackers. Thinking about the cyber protection of such solutions is very important at the earliest stages of development, because by gaining control over the Internet of things, attackers can invade the personal space of device owners, steal valuable data and things from them, and even threaten their health and life, ”said the leading antivirus expert. Kaspersky Lab Maher Yamout. The company also urges users to study how well they are protected before buying devices, weighing the possible risks.
“It took me less than 10 minutes to find a vulnerability in the drone software and gain full control over it, including control and video recording. This can be done with other IoT devices as well. If it was easy for me, then it will not cause problems for attackers either. The consequences can be catastrophic, - Reuben Paul is convinced. “It is obvious that manufacturers of smart devices do not care enough about their security. They should build security solutions into their devices to protect users from malicious attacks.”
In the attached video, the company also indicated that drone incidents increased by a third in the UK in 2018. In addition, these relatively new devices are already creating some problems for the operation of major international airports like Heathrow, Gatwick or Dubai.