Hello! Welcome back to this next TomCast from GuardSight; we are a tactical cybersecurity-as-a-service organization dedicated to helping businesses protect their data, their assets, and their endpoints.

Today’s discussion is going to center around the Internet of Things, or IoT for short. We have a guest with us for this TomCast; please welcome GuardSight member Justin Fischer, jack of all Linux trades, incident response guru, and all around great guy! (Justin says a few words)

[Listen to the podcast to hear full responses to the following questions.]

Justin, we’re jumping into the topic of IoT and wanted to start with a few questions to kick this off. First, IoT devices, can you name a few and what makes them part of IoT?

It appears that these devices are things that have been in households for a long time and aren’t necessarily “new”. The only difference, it appears, is that they now connect to the internet, yes?

In your experience with IoT devices, what is their overall security posture like? Do they have the same protections as computers, i.e.: anti-virus and anti-malware?

Some of these smart devices that are out nowadays seem pretty cool and rather easy to use. Many of them interconnect with others like appliances, lights, garage doors, etc. Have you seen increases in security measures for these devices in your experience?

Hmmm…still seems like convenience has outweighed security somewhat. Well, speaking of convenience, if the device is a smart fridge, for example, what is the worst that could happen if it were compromised? Compromised meaning an external attacker gained access to the smart fridge through the network.

Dang, so the risk of unprotected devices on the network regardless of type is a very real one. Are there any kind of mechanisms a homeowner could put in place to reduce their risk of having these smart devices on their networks?

Ok, so we’ve learned a bit more about the Internet of Things and some of the associated risks. Listeners, arm yourselves with this and more knowledge before you introduce devices onto your home or business networks that could bring additional risk.

We here at GuardSight thank you for taking the time to listen to this TomCast. Please share this if you believe it would be of assistance to anyone in your contact list, and please provide us some feedback in the comments so we can continue to improve. Thanks!