Internet of Things: Security aspects are ignored
The latest semi-annual report from the Reporting and Analysis Center for Information Assurance looks at the most important cyber incidents in the second half of 2016 in Switzerland and abroad. The report focuses on the increasingly important Internet of Things.
According to estimates, more than 6 billion Internet of Things devices were connected to the Internet in 2016. By 2020, this figure is expected to rise to around 20 billion. Everything from wearables - applications worn on the body or sewn into clothing, such as smartwatches or fitness trackers - to self-driving cars and control systems for large building complexes is connected to the Internet. However, manufacturers and even users often pay too little attention to security aspects. The recently published 24. half-year report from the Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (Melani) highlights the problems and makes recommendations for the safe use of the Internet of Things.
Switzerland as an indirect target of cyber espionage
In the second half of 2016, cyber espionage campaigns were made public which, although related to Switzerland, did not involve our country as the actual target of these operations. Among others, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Court of Justice for Sport were the focus of attention, and thus indirectly Switzerland as well, since the latter is based in Lausanne. In the case of the World Anti-Doping Agency, the obvious target was the anti-doping data of certain athletes worldwide. In another attack, which dates back some time but has only now become known through the publication of the "Shadow Brokers" group, three servers at the University of Geneva were among those affected. The semi-annual report sheds light on these attacks and states the reasons why Switzerland can also become an indirect target of cyber espionage.
Continued fraud attempts and extortionist attacks
In the second half of 2016, Melani continued to observe numerous cases of cyber fraud attempts, in which companies in particular can lose a great deal of money. DDoS attacks and encryption Trojans are also still very popular among attackers to extort victims. This report addresses this issue, describes some incidents and provides recommendations on how to protect against such attacks.
Press Release Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance
