The Internet of things (IoT) has already been used to launch the biggest DDoS attacks ever, but now it represents a potential path for attackers to compromise cell phones.
Flaws in Belkin WeMo devices - electrical switches, cameras, light bulbs, coffee makers, air purifiers, etc. – enabled Invincea Labs researchers to not only hack into the devices, but to use that access to attack an Android phone running the app that controls the WeMo devices.
"This is the first instance we've seen of IoT hacking something else," says researcher Scott Tenaglia, who pledges to look for other vulnerable devices that might be abused to carry out similar attacks.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday November 03 2016, @06:37PM
The sheer numbers and lack of updates will eventually favor the light bulbs, if only to build the attack infrastructure (DDoS bots, but also proxies, relays, meshing in dense environment)...
Obviously, Android is a much bigger and valuable target and nowhere near as fragmented as "smart" lightbulbs, at least until OCP/E-corp achieves a monopoly.