Restart Radio: Connected device horrors

After our recent “Remote Kill Switch” episode, we have been collecting connected device horror stories.

Only a couple of weeks ago, a bunch of CC TV cameras, routers, and video recorders nearly took down the internet. We talked about this “botnet” – and how some really crap, mundane devices were taken over remotely and used in a cyberattack.

Other stories, care of the “Internet of Shit” tweet, amused us but were less global in dimension. Including the British geek who spent 11 hours configuring his smart kettle. Eleven hours for a cup of tea!

We recalled the hacking of “Hello Barbie” – a connected toy that could be hijacked remotely.

And probably the best wrap-up and summary of how we can create our own horrors, was Terence Eden’s talk at Thingmonk called “The (Connected) House of Horrors”. We played back his top tips, which start with: don’t do it! Don’t connect everything! And then, if you must, don’t buy unsupported crap.

Links of stuff we discussed:

• “Breaking Down Mirai: An IoT DDoS Botnet Analysis”
• What is a DNS server?
• Motherboard: “Should the FBI Hack Botnet Victims to Save the Internet?”
• Internet of Shit tweet
• Guardian: “English man spends 11 hours trying to make cup of tea with Wi-Fi kettle”
• Terence Eden’s Thingmonk talk “The (Connected) House of Horrors“

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