He managed to reach some of the people whose devices had been infected and included in the Mirai botnet that was used to carry out a worldwide DDoS attack that took down major online services including Twitter, Netflix and the PlayStation Network. But they weren't worried because their devices were still functioning as intended.
they can use it, it doesn't go down even when they do a DDoS attack. So it's not a problem for them, and the fact that their heat pump is causing problems for someone else doesn't bother them. They're not going to fix it, they're not going to spend money on fixing a problem that doesn't affect them," Hypponen said.
The lack of response, he says, shows that despite its global impact, Mirai has not been “the wake-up call we need” and that something bigger will have to happen before IoT security is taken seriously. That latvia mobile database could be an IoT attack that has real, physical consequences.
"Everything in every home will be turned into a computer. It will be possible to connect to everything that is connected to the power grid. In the future, if there is a conflict, crisis or war, this will make it much easier to make an entire state helpless," says Hypponen.
By shutting down Ukraine's power lines, hackers have demonstrated how a cyberattack can be used to cripple infrastructure. IoT devices could become an additional weapon for attackers in cyber warfare.
"If you want to see really bad scenarios, imagine ways to attack devices in every home in the country and make them catch fire, so that at the same moment, every home in the country starts to burn. The war would end immediately. No fire brigade could handle something like that," Hypponen says.