A Casino Hacked in a Hollywood Style: IoT to Blame?
Hackers used to a thermostat in a casino to pull high roller database.
There are many ways to steal information and money, of which hacking is the latest and digital way. From time to time we hear reports of hacking of smart devices. Cars are stolen, security systems are affected, personal information in mobiles and laptops are accessed and even speakers are hacked. The latest of them all is a Hollywood style incident in which a casino database was hacked through a thermometer which was used to adjust the temperature in a fish tank.
The incident is not a hoax and was confirmed to have happened by a leading cyber security company. Many businesses have been falling apart in the recent years because they fail to protect their IoT devices, which the hackers often use as a bridge to steal, and the same thing happened in the case of the casino. The thermometer used to hack was a smart tech used to control the temperature of the aquarium installed in the lobby. The device was connected to the same internet connection as that of the casino’s which made way for the attack and left the servers exposed.
Explaining in detail, the hackers made use of the internet connection connected of the thermostat to get a firm hold on the network. Then, the high-roller database was compromised after which it was pulled out of the thermostat through the network and up in to the cloud. The reason why the hackers could do this was because of the thermostat’s low-security standards.
According to the records of a security software company called the Arbor Networks, there are a total of 27 billion devices/gadgets connected to the internet as of this year, and is expected to reach about 125 billion by the year of 2030. Most of these devices are IoT devices like thermostats, HVAC systems and much more.
As the attack surface expands the security concerns are also increasing. Devices like thermostats are not given the security features as that of a smartphone or laptop in order to make it simple and reduce cost.
The only solution to prevent such disasters is to provide the smart devices (thermostat) with the same security standards provided to mobiles, laptops etc. it is very important because all these devices share the same internet connection. And also the software of these devices must be updated regularly. These are the best one can do to prevent hacking.
