Stickley: Internet of Things poses big risks

‘There are no regulations behind this stuff.’

The Internet of Things (IoT) is here to stay.

In fact, there are there are currently eight billion IoT devices on this planet, says security consultant Jim Stickley, with that number expected to rise 20 billion by 2020. By comparison, he says there are roughly one billion personal computers (PC) and eight billion mobile devices active today.

“This market is just getting saturated with devices and clearly it’s not going to stop anytime soon,” Stickley said during his keynote presentation at the co-located CUNA Technology Council and CUNA Operations & Member Experience Council Conferences in San Francisco. “From a hacking standpoint, I can turn PCs, where there’s 1 billion, or mobile devices, with 8 billion. I like my odds a lot better with 20 billion.”

What’s more, many IoT devices are developed with web servers built into them, Stickley says, making them more vulnerable to attack.

 

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