“D-Link is under fire from the Federal Trade Commission for not doing enough to secure its products, including connected home devices —a threat Apple has countered via secure authentication chips in HomeKit-certified hardware,” Malcolm Owen reports for AppleInsider.
“In a new lawsuit, the FTC alleges D-Link ‘failed to take reasonable steps’ to prevent hackers from accessing routers and IP cameras, putting ‘thousands of consumers’ in an insecure position,” Owen reports. “The lawsuit comes after major distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack in October last year affected a number of prominent websites and services, driven by a botnet that took advantage of insecure IoT devices. Hardware that used unchanged default administration login information was targeted, with malware installed to allow it to be remotely controlled and used for the attack.”
“The security lapses also extended to mobile apps offered by D-Link to access and manage IP cameras and routers from a smartphone or tablet,” Owen reports. “Last week, D-Link announced it would start adopting HomeKit for its IP-based security camera range, with the Omna 180 Cam HD the first with compatibility.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If it’s not HomeKit-compatible, it’s not going in our homes or offices.
We’re approaching the day when all IOT connected devices will need some sort of built-in security mechanism in order to pass government muster. Apple is already there, in process and product, with HomeKit, and it will get better. However this is bad news for Google, Amazon and others whose business models depend on free flow of unencrypted data.
But you just know the feds are gonna want a “backdoor”.
Both D-Link and Cisco are featured extensively in Snowden’s leaks. They already have backdoors/intentionally left-open zero-day vulnerabilities for NSA’s hacking software to use them.
IOT = idiots of tomorrow.
Devices for lazy shits.
So you’re not even the slightest bit interested in any home automation?
Secured home automation, yes. But vendors are lazy shits.
Funny, I though it was Idiots Of Today!
The amount of money and time people waste on home automation is ridiculous. People don’t save the time they think they do. IOT is just overpriced gimmicks for lazy people. As for security, if people here have such disdain for Windows security, I don’t understand how they can have any faith in these newcomers with fundamental security flaws in their products, most of which rely on android or windows under the hood….
Home automation can be very practical and can make things simpler. In my house, the walls are stone, the ceilings are beamed and the floors are solid oak. If I want to add something like an extra lamp on the wall or the ceiling, there is no way to run cable to the lamp and to a wall switch without significant amounts of building work together with ruining beautiful materials. Even simple patches to the stonework are problematical because the mortar originally used was lime mortar rather then cement based. It was made with a unique coarse sand quarried locally, but that quarry closed down many years ago, so builders can’t make mortar which remotely resembles the colour and texture of the existing mortar.
On the other hand, it’s entirely practical to discretely run one mains cable from a nearby point to multiple lamps and then use simple home automation technology to control each lamp individually.
The same advantages come with wireless A/V distribution and even things as simple as a doorbell. Running even the thinnest wire around my house is problematical, therefore reliable wireless solutions are hugely attractive.
I know. Indoor plumbing, amIrite? Are people so lazy they can’t leave the house?
While other’s tend to naturally be full of it…
IoT = Internet of Trash.
Maybe some day it will be worth having and using. But for now, the sheer INsecurity of this trash is a profound reason to ignore it. Let the lazy-ass, idiot manufactures know that this is the modern world.
Security is requirement #1. Otherwise, take your companies and shove ’em. 😵
I had a good friend recommend D-Link gear to me nearly 10 years ago. I warned him! D-Link had a crap reputation even then. And here we go again. 😛