Last week, Akamai, an American content delivery network, released a new report on how hackers exploit the flaw and weaknesses in our protocol (including but not limited to routers, cable modems, and satellite TV equipment). The report brought about interesting results, one of which was quite startling: more than 2 million devices had been compromised by SSHowDowN (SSH), a vulnerability that was known for decades.
To begin with, SSH is the protocol used in IoT devices to assist remote system access, but as reported by Akamai on Wired, many manufacturers failed to include the best practices for SSH in the default configurations of these devices, therefore increasing the global susceptibility of IoT devices. The article mentioned several network-related manufacturers and device vendors, some of whose devices were confirmed to contain flaws as mentioned in the report. For the moment, Akamai is working with its customers and related firms to improve their SSH implementation.
Now, regardless of whoever these flaws are attributed to, it’s important to note that similar vulnerabilities as found by the research must be avoided. The idea of protecting IoT devices has been around for years and gradually gets more widespread. The parameters now fall beyond our interferences, no matter how fast and correctly they’re. In that case, there is no space for such obviously preventable vulnerabilities.
In the end, isn’t the scheme to solve the problem hard enough already?
https://www.wired.com/2016/10/akamai-finds-longtime-security-flaw-2-million-devices/
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