Finnish company F-Secure has discovered a new flaw in the surveillance cameras of the company Foscam that endangers users' privacy
The Internet of Things is revolutionizing our world. We've said it time and time again. From energy savings to innovations for Industry 4.0. Always-connected smart objects simplify various everyday gestures. At the same time, however, they are a threat to our privacy. Especially security cameras.
The Internet of Things is highly vulnerable from a security perspective. Manufacturers often fail to develop protections for these devices that have numerous flaws that hackers can exploit. Not to mention the carelessness of many users who don't change their default passwords. F-Secure is a Finnish company that was among the first to show the limitations of IoT devices. Now the company has discovered a new flaw in the security system of some Internet-connected IP security cameras. These cameras are provided by Chinese manufacturer Foscam, and have as many as 18 different security vulnerabilities.
Italy at risk
The problem is that the Chinese company has in Italy, as well as in other countries, its largest pool of users. For this reason, the Bel Paese, together with all the nations of Western Europe and the United States, are among the countries most at risk. Once infected, the cameras can be fully managed remotely by cyber criminals who can use them as they please. F-Secure is very annoyed by the way some manufacturers are acting: "Many of these devices allow an attacker to do more or less whatever he wants. A malicious user can exploit the various vulnerabilities one by one to gain control of the device and the network." Not to mention that all this junk data is increasingly being used by hackers to generate unprecedented DDoS attacks. F-Secure is running a campaign to raise awareness among consumers, they will be the ones who will have to demand more secure IoT devices from manufacturers in the future.