Smart devices and IoT are an emerging presence in the world, created to help people get their everyday tasks done easier and quicker. But the current generation of IoT devices on the market is highly susceptible as hackers are gaining more data and information than ever before; and now, with the advent of smart security systems and the doorbell camera that has hit the mainstream, more critical systems are being targeted.

While the everyday Joe is either out of the loop of this invasion of privacy or simply doesn’t care, more and more breaches occur each week. In this piece, we go back in time to explore a pair of recent IoT breach stories and how the implementation of Elastos can prevent such attacks from happening again.

VxWorks

In late July, a team of security researchers delved into the code of a highly used IoT operating system called VxWorks. They found 11 vulnerabilities on the platform. This operating system powers more than two billion devices around the globe, including firewalls, elevators, medical equipment, industrial machinery, and more. [more info]

While the spokespeople of VxWorks claim that these vulnerabilities only affect “a small subset of our customer base”, the researchers concluded that around 200 million of the devices carrying the VxWorks OS were at risk. VxWorks stands today as the “most widely used real-time operating system in the world”, and manufacturers include Siemens, Mitsubishi, Samsung, Xerox, and more.

Imagine a hacker infiltrating a state firewall to expose sensitive data, or a hacker digitally breaking into a hospital or medical institution to steal records or mess with medical devices. These are just two scenarios that could affect millions of people. One of the biggest IoT operating systems is susceptible to hacks; people are sitting ducks.

Orvibo

Also in early July, a Chinese IoT management platform called Orvibo left all their records exposed because they weren’t password protected! As stated in a Forbes article, “…the database includes more than 2 billion logs containing everything from user passwords to account reset codes and even “smart” camera recorded conversation”. [more info]

Orvibo claims to have over 1 million users. Hackers now have the leverage to take the users data for personal gain, and can literally take over Orvibo users’ resources. It’s quoted in the article that “having one of these devices installed could undermine, rather than enhance, your physical security”.

Seemingly, there’s a new gateway that’s been opened up by IoT for hackers to infiltrate, steal, and use for their gain. No one seems to have solved this problem, and the prowlers remain on the loose aiming to gain more data from users.

Elastos

Elastos is strategically positioned to solve the problems of the IoT space, and one prominent member of the Elastos Developer Experience Team (DX), Jimmy Lipham, is actively creating hardware to compete against the mainstream smart home IoT devices. He has already assembled his own smart doorbell, remote control garage door opener and a network attached storage device (NAS).

Jimmy sees huge eavesdropping issues, as done by the Facebooks and Googles of the world. With his NAS device, users can record and store information on the blockchain without any intermediary intercepting, storing, or analyzing it for their own gain.

Another significant project is Hyper Connect, one of the main IoT-based platforms building with the Elastos technology. Hyper Connect utilizes the Elastos peer-to-peer Carrier network to route network traffic between IoT devices. Since the transactions are done through Carrier, they are low cost, and there are no man-in-the-middle attacks while the project remains highly scalable with the ability to store and transfer files, as well as stream. Now the user has the ability to rely on a peer-to-peer network to relay their IoT commands rather than an outdated TCP/IP protocol that is prone to hacks and privacy invasion.

In the wild west of IT and technology, security and privacy has been on the defense for years. Each and every week, we have another data hack or breach at multi-billion dollar corporations who have outdated and archaic security systems. Enough is enough. Human beings deserve to have an infrastructure in place that can be reliable in protecting their data and identity.

Elastos has the features to become the secure and reliable infrastructure of the IoT and smart device realm. The Elastos Carrier serves as the mesh for millions of IoT devices to organize and route traffic between one another.

As Jimmy’s Doorbell eventually goes into the market and Hyper Connect services people with their IoT framework, the world will start to understand the value of securing and owning your own data. Let’s responsibly unleash the full capacity of IoT and smart devices with the security and privacy protective properties of Elastos.