How Long Does it Take to be Breached
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 11/01/2016 02:51 PM
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How long does it take an IoT device to be hacked? A researcher by the name of Andrew McGill wanted to find out.
Here is what the setup looked like:
The "server" was switched on at 1:12 p.m. The first attempt to breach the machine came at 1:53 p.m.
The next hacking attempt, from a different IP address and using different login credentials, came at 2:07 p.m. Another came at 2:10. And then 2:40. And 2:48. The research found that in all, there were over 300 attempts to breach his system.
How can this happen you might ask. There are bots that scan the entire internet looking for vulnerable access points. And every hacked computer adds another recruit to the search effort, shortening the time required geometrically.
Matthew Prince, the cofounder and CEO of Cloudflare, said: “Assuming it’s publicly accessible, the chance [of being hacked] is probably 100 percent. The IPv4 address space just isn’t that big. You can now run a scan across that entire space in hours, especially if you have a big botnet. The scans for vulnerability are continuous, and if anything, have accelerated over the last couple of years.”
McGill found that even the most obsure devices can be hacked by a roving script in a matter of minutes.
Source: The Atlantic
Here is what the setup looked like:
The "server" was switched on at 1:12 p.m. The first attempt to breach the machine came at 1:53 p.m.
The next hacking attempt, from a different IP address and using different login credentials, came at 2:07 p.m. Another came at 2:10. And then 2:40. And 2:48. The research found that in all, there were over 300 attempts to breach his system.
How can this happen you might ask. There are bots that scan the entire internet looking for vulnerable access points. And every hacked computer adds another recruit to the search effort, shortening the time required geometrically.
Matthew Prince, the cofounder and CEO of Cloudflare, said: “Assuming it’s publicly accessible, the chance [of being hacked] is probably 100 percent. The IPv4 address space just isn’t that big. You can now run a scan across that entire space in hours, especially if you have a big botnet. The scans for vulnerability are continuous, and if anything, have accelerated over the last couple of years.”
McGill found that even the most obsure devices can be hacked by a roving script in a matter of minutes.
Source: The Atlantic
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