internet of things | GIGE IT Solutions: IT Services Mississauga http://gige.ca/tag/internet-of-things IT Services & IT Solutions Mississauga & Toronto Wed, 29 Jan 2020 15:58:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://gige.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/cropped-tab-icon-g-final-32x32.png internet of things | GIGE IT Solutions: IT Services Mississauga http://gige.ca/tag/internet-of-things 32 32 Cyberattackers Are Targeting IOT Devices: How Do You Defend Yourself? https://gige.ca/iot-devices Thu, 22 Aug 2019 14:40:28 +0000 https://gige.ca/?p=8920 A new threat group, called “STRONTIUM”, was recently discovered by the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC). In April 2019, this cyberthreat infiltrated private company networks through 3 different IoT devices – a VoIP phone, printer, and video decoder. The Microsoft researchers reported that the devices were compromised as a result of the devices running out-of-date…
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]]> A new threat group, called “STRONTIUM”, was recently discovered by the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC). In April 2019, this cyberthreat infiltrated private company networks through 3 different IoT devices – a VoIP phone, printer, and video decoder.

The Microsoft researchers reported that the devices were compromised as a result of the devices running out-of-date software. Furthermore, it was discovered that the log-in credentials on some of the hacked devices were also left on factory defaults, making them vulnerable to compromise.

Once the threat had infiltrated a company’s network, it would carry out a network scan to locate other devices that are vulnerable, and spreading itself to these new devices. It was also discovered that the hacked devices were communicating with an external device controlled by the attackers.

It was discovered that common devices that were used for initial infiltration included office VoIP phones and printers. Infected devices are often used by cyberattackers in a network known as a botnet. A botnet is a network of devices controlled by a cyberattacker for malicious activity, including mounting DOS attacks, sending spam, or stealing data.

Microsoft reported that in the past year, it had notified close to 1400 companies affected by the STRONTIUM threat.

The FBI noted that VPNFilter, a malware that was prominent in May 2018, was also related to the STRONTIUM vulnerability.  That month, technology company Cisco reported that half a million IoT devices worldwide were infected with VPNFilter, with affected brands including NETGEAR, Linksys, and TP-Link.

What can you do to protect yourself and your IoT Devices?

As shown by the attacks described above, cyberattackers are looking to exploit more simple devices to intrude into victims’ networks. One of the most effective method of protecting yourself against this is by ensuring that the default credentials used to log into the device are changed.

To further protection, you can also segment your network, disconnecting your IoT devices from your more critical systems. This way, if an attacker does gain access to your IoT devices they will still not be able to access your administrative systems.

GIGE Corporation can help you protect your devices from cyberattack. Contact us today at +1 888 366 4443 or info@gige.ca for more information.

 

 

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]]> 8920 How DDoS Attacks Affects SMEs https://gige.ca/how-ddos-attacks-affects-smes Tue, 15 May 2018 16:44:47 +0000 http://gige.ca/?p=5638 The post How DDoS Attacks Affects SMEs appeared first on GIGE IT Solutions: IT Services Mississauga.

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DDoS Attack

How DDoS Attacks Affects SMEs

Under Distributed Denial of Service or DDoS, a type of cyber attack, the website of a business experiences outages or unexpected downtime. The targeted site runs slow or becomes inaccessible. Attackers, do not limit themselves to large organizations but they also attack the small and medium-sized enterprises or SMEs.

In June 2016 a small brick & mortar jewelry shop was attacked, and the shop’s website was taken down for days. The owner had no idea what went wrong. Upon investigation, Sucuri found that the shop’s site had been generating traffic of 35,000 to 50,000 HTTP requests per second (RPS) – something that its web servers couldn’t handle, resulting to the site’s downtime. It was a DDoS attack that resulted in the spike of HTTP requests. Further, in the investigation, Sucuri found out that the attackers used IoT (internet of things) CCTV devices as the source of their attack botnet.

In general, botnet means a string of connected computers coordinated together to perform a task. A DDoS botnet, in particular, refers to devices, in this case, the CCTV cameras that were themselves hacked to execute a malicious function, that is, to add traffic to the site of the shop, making it inaccessible to the public.

The attack on Dyn, a known DNS (domain name service) provider in October 2016, is another example of a DDoS attack. More than 80 popular websites, such as Netflix, Amazon, Twitter, and Reddit were rendered temporarily inaccessible to the public. According to Dyn, 100,000 IoT devices were compromised to stage the attack.

Negative Effects of DDoS Attacks

Most businesses today have an online presence in one or the other form, mostly through their official websites. DDoS attacks have direct and immediate effects on organization’s image. It makes your organization’s website inaccessible to the potential clients. Your business will lose customers if your site can’t be accessed. An unavailable site can also smudge your organization’s online reputation.

Access to company websites is vital as a study conducted by Google and Ipsos MediaCT found that 50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their phone visited a store within 24 hours, and 34% who searched on computer or tablet did the same.

“A study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that Canadian businesses are losing over $3 billion a year to cybercrime,” Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement. “It’s not technology-savvy security experts committing these attacks. Anyone with a computer and an internet connection can now disrupt services or hold data for ransom. What costs a criminal $100 may end up costing business millions in lost money, time and reputation.”

How to Prevent DDoS Attacks

While it’s easy for criminals to pay just a few bucks to launch a DDoS attack against your organization’s site, it’s equally simple to prevent such attacks in under few seconds, regardless of the intensity of the attacks and without getting in the way of your site’s legitimate traffic.

If your business is having problems with persistent site downtime, a sign of DDoS attacks, contact us at GigE. We offer per incident technical support and diagnostic services, for instance, in cases of denial of service attacks.

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