Oops: Security Holes In Belkin Home Automation Gear

chicksdaddy writes "The Security Ledger reports that the security firm IOActive has discovered serious security holes in the WeMo home automation technology from Belkin. The vulnerabilities could allow remote attackers to use Belkin's WeMo devices to virtually vandalize connected homes, or as a stepping stone to other computers connected on a home network. IOActive researcher Mike Davis said on Tuesday that his research into Belkin's WeMo technology found the 'devices expose users to several potentially costly threats, from home fires with possible tragic consequences down to the simple waste of electricity.' IOActive provided information on Davis's research to the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT), which issued an advisory on the WeMo issues on Tuesday. There has been no response yet from Belkin."

Comments

Predictable ....

[gstoddart]

As soon as you start having something poking holes through your firewall to allow inbound traffic, this is pretty much a predictable outcome.

The internet of things, smart home monitoring, and thermostats you can adjust from the web ... all of these are things which are going to cause security problems, because most companies doing these kinds of things seem to completely ignore security, or when they try, still do a piss poor job.

I view the whole thing as a big "what did you expect?".

I saw a documentary about this on TV last night

[OzPeter]

The hackers got into the home security system and caused it to mis-identify the homeowners as intruders. This caused the home security system to activate its laser targeted rifle and shoot (to kill) one of the homeowners.

Ooops .. sorry .. that was last nights episode of Almost Human

  (and its pretty sad when Fox has better Scif-Fi on than the Sy-Fy channel)