Computer Shopper - UK (2020-03)

SECURITY

ISSUE385|COMPUTER SHOPPER|MARCH2020

Morerecently,Hacker Giraffe
exploited aproblem withChromecast
and smart TVs that exposed them to
theinternet viaUPnP, to playaYouTube
videofrom socialmediastarPewDiePie.
Thatmight notsoundso bad,but
whatif thehijackplayedavideothat got
Alexato callanumberto letahacker
listen towhat’sgoingon,orbereally
annoyingandsetan alarm togooffat
4.30am every morning?
Anydevicethat actuallygetsinfected
canthenpose abiggerrisk, asitcanuse
UPnPtoopenupmoreportsanddevicesss
in yourhome forfurtherattack.
How,then,doyou protect yourself agggainst
thiskindof attack? Fortunately,thereare
severalstepsyou cantake.Thefirstisto
disable UPnPin your router.Thiscanstoppp
somedevicesworkinguntil youmanually
configureportforwarding,buttheextra
securitycanbeworthit.
To dothis, gointoyourrouter’sweb-based
management consoleand lookfor theUPnP
setting,which isoften buriedintheAdvanced
settings. WithourNetgearOrbi router,the
UPnPpage hasaclear TurnUPnPOn tickbox;
removingthetick turnsthe serviceoff.
Usefully,our routeralsoshowsthelistof
existingUPnPports andtheIPaddress that
requestedthem. In ourcase, all UPnPrequests
areforthedeviceat 192.168.0.150.Aquick
checkof theDHCP address reservation lists
showsthat thisisourSynologyrouter.So,we
actually haveachoicehere.We candisable
UPnPtopreventfuturedevicesopening ports,
butwe canalso leaveitturnedonbutdisable
thefeaturesin theSynology NASthat have
allowed this,suchasremote webaccessand
thefile-sharingservicein ourcase.
Ifwedisable UPnP, then we haveto
remembertore-create therulesthat are
theremanuallyifwewanttokeepusingthe
serviceswe have turnedon.

UNPLUGGED

The next stepthat youshould takeis to
audit thedevices youhavethat areinternet-
connected, and then work outif you wantto

leave them thisway.F

an oldsmart TVbutyounolongeruseits

smartfunctions,then you mayas well

unplug it from theinternet.Do this for

everything in yourhome.

Next, foranydevice thatyou’veleft

pluggedin,you need to performyour own

securityaudit.Whatyou needtodoislook

at howthedevice isaccessedand controlled,

andchangepasswordswhereyoucan.

Forexample,if youhavean oldersecurity

camerathat youset upmanually,a till

runningthedefault usernameand

onit? Ifyouare,it’stimetochange

However,this may notalwaysb

possible.Forexample,smartTVs

don’tgive youthesame options,

so you’repretty muchstuckwith

what you’ve gotin thebox.

Finally,takealookat your route

toseeifithasoptionsforsecurity

that you canturnon.With

modernsystems, such asthe

Orbi,youcanturnonmalware

checking foramonthlyfee,

which will lookoutformalicious

attemptstohijackor control

esonyourhome network. It’shardtoput

figureontheefficacy ofthese systems,

butthat extra layerofdefencewill prevent

someattackshappeningand givesyou

that extralayerofsecurity.

CLOUDED VIEW

Manyof today’ssmartdevicesare

controlled viaacloud service,through

asmartphoneapp. Forexample,if

you’reawayand turnupyour Nest

Thermostat,therequestis funnelled

throughNest’scloud service.

Insomeways,thisis moresecure

thanhavingadirect connectionto

thedevice you’recontrolling,but

whathappensifyourNest account

(or otheraccounts) ishacked? Thiswill

then givehackersdirect controlover

vicesin yourhome.

amantha and LamontWestmorelandfrom

aukeediscoveredwhathappenswhen

their Nestaccountwashacked.Theyfound

thattheir heatingwasbeingturnedupand

thatthecameraintheir housewouldspeakto

themand playvulgarmusic.

Googlehassaidthat this is theresultof a

compromised account,ratherthan adirect

attackonitshardware,butitdemonstrates

theimportanceofprotectingyourcloud

accounts:see thenextpagefor more

informationonhow to dothis.

are you still

password

ethem.

be

er

73

ABOVE:Routers will let you disable UPnP

Forexample,if youhave

device

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dev

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Milwa

RIGHT:If adevicecan’tbeattacked

directly,youraccount can be targeted

ABOVE:If your router haaaasaddddditional security settings,

you may want to turntheeeemonnnnto proteccttttyour home