CybersecurityFax machines and coffee pots – the surprising ways you could be hacked
Hopefully you protect your computers from cyberattacks. You might have anti-virus software on your phone, tablet, laptop or desktop. You might avoid using them to visit suspicious websites and carefully protect your various login details. But it’s no longer just what we typically think of as computers that are connected to the internet and so at risk of cyberattacks. And if multiple devices are connected to the same network in your home or office, then if a hacker breaks into one machine they could gain access to all of them.
Hopefully you protect your computers from cyberattacks. You might have anti-virus software on your phone, tablet, laptop or desktop. You might avoid using them to visit suspicious websites and carefully protect your various login details.
But it’s no longer just what we typically think of as computers that are connected to the internet and so at risk of cyberattacks. And if multiple devices are connected to the same network in your home or office, then if a hacker breaks into one machine they could gain access to all of them.
Security researchers recently claimed to have hacked into a computer network by sending a malicious fax. And there are many other seemingly unlikely ways a hacker can get access to your system. You might have a well-protected front door to the internet, but could someone get in by means of the recently installed cat flap in the conservatory?
Printers and baby monitors
Some devices we recognize as being related to our computers, but we don’t necessarily think of them as being connected to the internet. Nowadays, printers often have their own internet connection to allow them to talk to other devices in your home or office, often wirelessly.
This connection provides the first step for hackers to remotely access your network. Then they just need to get around any security controls and they can hack into not just the printer but the other devices connected to it. Printer vulnerabilities have been well documented, with one hacker claiming to have broken into 150,000 printers in order to raise awareness of their insecurity.
Similarly, many baby monitors and security cameras now connect to the internet to allow people to access them from outside the home. New York’s Department of Consumer Affairs issued a public warning about baby monitor security following a number of widely reported incidents of strangers’ voices being heard over them.
Toys and coffee makers
The creation of the so-called Internet of Things means it’s not just computer accessories that are now connected but also devices, appliances and objects that we traditionally don’t see as having anything to do
