HORRIFYING STORY: "WAKE UP, YOU LITTLE SLUT..."

There is a new trend in technology called "the Internet of things."

All of your household electronics and appliances are getting connected to the Internet, everything from your lights to your thermostats.  In the long-run, connecting these things to the Internet will provide all sorts of conveniences and efficiencies.

But there is a dark side to the Internet of Things.  Powerful, cutting-edge technologies created in the name of "efficiency" have been known to result in horrifying consequences.  Forbes has one such story:

Marc Gilbert got a horrible surprise from a stranger on his 34th birthday in August. After the celebration had died down, the Houston resident heard an unfamiliar voice coming from his daughter’s room; the person was telling his sleeping 2-year-old, "Wake up, you little slut." When Gilbert rushed in, he discovered the voice was coming from his baby monitor and that whoever had taken control of it was also able to manipulate the camera. Gilbert immediately unplugged the monitor but not before the hacker had a chance to call him a moron.

The monitor, made by Foscam of Shenzhen, China, lets users monitor audio and video over the Internet from anywhere in the world. Months earlier security researchers had discovered software flaws in the product that allowed attackers to take control of the monitor remotely or to sign into its stream if they used the user name "admin." Foscam had quietly come up with a fix the month before but had not pushed it out to its users. When Gilbert checked his Foscam account, he discovered that the hacker had added his own user name - "Root" - so he could sign in whenever he wanted. Gilbert is now considering a class action against Foscam. He could find other plaintiffs using a search engine called Shodan. It's likely the tool the pervy hacker used to find him.

Shodan crawls the Internet looking for devices, many of which are programmed to answer. It has found cars, fetal heart monitors, office building heating-control systems, water treatment facilities, power plant controls, traffic lights and glucose meters. A search for the type of baby monitor used by the Gilberts reveals that more than 40,000 other people are using the IP cam - and may be sitting ducks for creepy hackers.

Please be sure to read the entire article to learn more about the problem and who created the program.  Shodan can find all kinds of stuff: webcams, traffic lights...glucose meters.  Think about all the scary possibilities.

The article suggests the key to protecting yourself against invasions like the one Gilbert went through is to never buy an Internet-connected gadget that is not password protected. Also, if you buy one that comes with a default password and user name, change it immediately.  Stay safe, people!