LOOKING AHEAD ANTICIPATED TRENDS FEATURED TOPIC IoT – THE INSECURITY OF THINGS? The IoT has been an industry buzzword for years. As we become increasingly reliant on interconnected devices in every aspect of our lives, there lies the concomitant need to protect potentially billions of them from intrusions and interference that could compromise personal privacy or threaten public safety. In recent years, massive IoT botnets such as Mirai, Hajime and Persirai have shown themselves to be capable of globally destructive attacks. A report released by cybersecurity firm F5 Labs last year stated that Singapore has constantly appeared in the top five destinations for IoT attacks19. There are also privacy concerns when IoT devices are being targeted, with the Police having received reports of victims finding their IP cameras compromised and sometimes manipulated to film in a particular direction. It has never been more crucial to secure this interconnected world that we live in. For a start, every stakeholder must play their role in ensuring basic security mistakes – such as open ports, default credentials, and data sent without encryption – are excised from IoT equipment. 19 Boddy, Sara and Shattuck, Justin. “The Hunt for IoT: The Growth and Evolution of Thingbots Ensures Chaos,” F5 Labs – Threat Analysis Report, 13 March 2018, https://www.f5.com/labs/articles/threat-intelligence/the-hunt-for-iot-the-growth-andevolution-of-thingbots-ensures-chaos. 48 49