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> If someone hacks my light switch all they can do is turn the light off and on Or maybe they can monitor your light switch without changing its state. That da
by pdkl95 10y ago
> If someone hacks my light switch all they can do is turn the light off and on
Or maybe they can monitor your light switch without changing its state. That data could be used to estimate when you are home with reasonable accuracy.
Or maybe they don't care about you at all and simply use your device in a DDoS or as a relay in an attack on someone else.
- upofadown 10y agoLights are normally visible from outside the house...
- pdkl95 10y agoSo? Observing from the outside would require local observations, which increasingly is tracked (ALPR, CCTV). With a network attack the knowledge can be gained (in bulk!) with a lot less risk. Monitoring many lights (even those not visible from the street) in hundreds of houses without the risk of creating a local data trail is very different than driving by a few houses and observing for yourself. However, that's just one way an insecure device could be abused that uses the data we know is available. I'm sure there are subtle and clever ways to abuse these devices that are still unknown.
- upofadown 10y agoWhy would anyone possibly care that someone knows what the state of their lights are from far away? We care because of something that happens locally; burglary. >I'm sure there are subtle and clever ways to abuse these devices that are still unknown. The security of residences as fairly well understood at this point. The attacks have been occurring for centuries. My point is that we can't treat this as an IT problem. We have to take the old cultural knowledge into account as well.