White-box security webcam scatters vulnerabilities through multiple OEMs The Internet of Things got just a lot worse, with F-Secure unravelling eighteen vulnerabilities in IP cameras from Chinese vendor Foscam. The company complains that after several months, “no fixes have been issued” – in other words, situation normal in IoT-land. The bugs are spread far and wide, because while only two …
I'm sure some of these gadgets are useful, but why the fcuk do they always need to be connected to the Interwebs? CCTV is very useful in a shop or even a home, but why do you need to be able to access it from Australia or Russia? There are cases for remote access, but it shouldn't be the blasted default. I had an argument with a colleague about getting a new EPOS system for our little shop recently - she liked the one which she could access from her phone. Why??????
I'd like one I could access from my phone - actually I have one.
Where I think the issue is, is with allowing all these wonderful IoT bits and pieces to expose themselves to the wider world.
Open VPN supported by most decent routers, allowing you to dial phone from your phone, into the security carnage.
"but why the fcuk do they always need to be connected to the Interwebs?"
The main reason for security cameras is that they would be pretty useless if the burglars ran off with the laptop or server that the cameras were recording on.
Another reason is upgrades. Many people aren't tech aware enough to do their own upgrades by downloading then uploading and installing. I had to do my NAS server a year or so ago and it was a stressful nightmare. A relative phones me every so often because the flash update on Firefox hasn't worked. The conversation always goes like.
"Open a Finder window".
"What's Finder? What do you mean a window?".
"Look on the thing that pops up on the bottom of the screen for a blue smiley face thing - probably on the left hand side".
"OK. Wait a minute while I close everything that's on the screen.".
"You don't need to do that - just open Finder".
"Hang on, I'm just closing everything that's on the screen".
etc. There's lots of "...look up at the very top right, then come down a bit - just next to the green dot....". They don't know what the following words mean: App, Folder, Return Key, Window, Finder, Side Bar, Column Header, Sort, Home Folder, Default, Settings, ............
They are not stupid; they are like the vast majority of home PC users who just use them to buy stuff on eBay and watch films and have no knowledge of what happens under the hood.
It won't help. People don't know how much more they should pay for security or even if they are getting more security for their money. With enough public education they might pay a tiny bit more if it said RFC secutity compliant on the box, but it might as well say IoT seccurity compliant.
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