Devices that are threats to your business – and how to mitigate

We all look for devices that make our lives easier. From Alexa to smart kettles, we think these devices are going to improve our lives. However, they have the potential to ruin lives too. If smart devices are not secure they could have a lasting impact on your business and home.

Printers

Wireless printers are a common threat, especially when they haven’t been updated. Most updates are generally security patches that have fixed an identified vulnerability. If you don’t keep your printer up-to-date it could result in someone entering your network and potentially harming your business. A hacker would attempt to find this vulnerability and move across the network to gain access to other devices.

Smart Devices

Whether you have an Alexa, Google Hub or any other smart device in the office, it could be a threat. These devices are always listening. If these have vulnerabilities and they are exploited an attacker could be listening to every conversation in your office. If your device is in the boardroom or in an office then this information could be very sensitive and could be used against you. We would always recommend having such devices away from areas that could have sensitive conversations.

Mobile Phones

Do your employees have work phones? Are you sure that they are always kept updated. Work phones are also a threat. So much so that the government-approved Cyber Essentials Scheme also looks at mobile phones as well as your desktop PC’s. As most employees will use their work phone for emails, there is bound to be some sort of sensitive information on them that needs to be kept protected.

Smart Plugs

It may seem like an obvious one but never plug in important devices into a smart plug. Anything that needs constant power doesn’t need to be in a smart plug. An example for this would be work PC’s they need constant access to power. As much as you think you may save electricity in the evening, the safer route is to just switch off the plug. If the smart plug gets attacked or is vulnerable you could potentially lose out to data within the business.

Patch Management

As a whole patch management can protect you from a lot of attacks as hackers look to exploit known vulnerabilities before looking at finding a new vulnerability. We always recommend having some sort of patch management in place for all devices that require it. Restricting user permissions and doing research on IoT devices, and their security, before adding them to the network is a must.