Security researchers from F-Secure have issued a stark warning that cyberattacks on IoT devices are now accelerating at an unprecedented rate. The company’s “Attack Landscape H1 2019” measured a three-fold increase in attack traffic to more than 2.9 billion events. The company uses honeypots—decoy servers around the world disguised as everyday operational hardware to attract everyday attacks—and this is the first time that attacks on those honeypots “has ever hit the billion mark.”
The researchers put this increase in attacks down to the increase in the numbers of IoT devices being deployed around the world. In recent months, we have seen multiple warnings on the vulnerability of such devices to attack. This is part due to a basic lack of defences in ageing firmware or architectures, and part down to a lack of infosec housekeeping. Often IT departments are not even aware of all these devices on their networks, making the task of patching security issues near impossible. “From millions to billions,” F-Secure leads out its introduction, neatly summarizing the issue.
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