After hearing about cybersecurity risks associated with the Internet of Things, Simone Margaritelli — a security researcher at Zimperium — decided to try his hand at hacking into an internet-connected device. The device of choice? His Smarter Coffee machine, which is connected to his home Wi-Fi network.
Mr. Margaritelli hoped to send the Smarter Coffee machine commands directly from his desktop computer to the app that came with it. After studying the code in the Smarter Coffee Android app, he was able to hack his coffee machine and fulfill his goal.
The verdict? “[I]t was too easy,” Mr. Margaritelli wrote in a Quartz follow-up article. “If I’m willing to spend a couple of hours automating my coffee intake, there are countless cybercriminals out there willing to put in the time for a much higher-stakes reward.”
In conclusion, Mr. Margaritelli claimed IoT-related attacks will get worse unless the IoT and mobile industries amp up security measures. “It’s time to hold IoT developers accountable for building security into their devices,” he wrote.
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