Most common attacks on IoT devices

IoT-device-securityIoT devices are increasingly present in our day to day. They are all those devices that we have connected to the network. They can be televisions, light bulbs, video playback equipment … There is a wide range of possibilities. Now, security is not always present. They are devices that can be attacked in various ways and put our security and privacy at risk. In this article we are going to talk about what are the most common attacks on IoT devices .

IoT devices, increasingly used

In recent times there has been a considerable increase in IoT devices in our home. Technology is advancing fast and we have more and more computers connected to the Internet. The trend is that in the coming years the figure will multiply and be much higher than the current one. We will have more devices, but also very different.

The problem is that hackers are taking advantage of the rise of this type of technology to carry out their attacks. They are based primarily on vulnerabilities they encounter, as well as poor security settings by users. This means that not only that particular device is put at risk, but it could also affect other devices on the network.

Main attacks on IoT devices

Hackers take advantage of this equipment to carry out different types of attacks. We are going to mention which are the main ones that can put our teams in check.

DDOS attacks

One of these problems that can affect IoT devices is DDOS attacks . As we know, a denial of service attack can affect many types of equipment. Our device can join a network of bots controlled by cybercriminals to compromise other systems.

Spam

Spam is another problem that is present in IoT devices. It may happen that our device is part of a botnet to send spam to other computers, but it could also be the case that through vulnerabilities an attacker can send spam to us.

Receiving spam can pose a significant risk to our security. Behind could be malware, malicious links and affect our privacy.



Brute force

It is undoubtedly one of the attacks that most affect IoT devices. In this case, cybercriminals use brute force to try to access them. They test the most generic and used passwords and thus be able to compromise the teams of the victims.

Information theft

Of course , information theft is another threat present on IoT devices. In this case, they could obtain data on how we use the equipment, collect the browsing history, etc.

We already know that today information has great value in the network. Many marketing companies can use it to send targeted advertising. Also the platforms themselves can sell that data to third parties.

Malware

Simply sending malware to our device opens up a wide range of possibilities for cybercriminals. An example is ransomware, which seeks to encrypt our device and thus request a ransom in return to recover the files. The malware could move to other devices connected to the network.

Seguridad de los equipos IoT

How to protect the security of IoT devices

We have seen some of the most frequent types of attacks on IoT devices. Now we will give a series of tips to avoid being victims and not compromise our teams. The first and most important thing is always to have these devices updated . No matter what type of device it is, if we use it more or less. It is always important to keep it updated, since sometimes vulnerabilities arise that can be exploited by hackers.

It will also be essential to be careful with the programs and add-ons that we install. It is vital that we always download them from official sources . Only in this way can we avoid unnecessary risks that cause our devices to not work properly.

Of course, another point that we cannot forget is to encrypt the devices . Normally these devices bring a factory password. However, the ideal is that we change that key and generate a totally strong and complex one. It must contain letters (upper and lower case), numbers and other special symbols.