October 2017 Discover

54 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM

MACROVECTOR/SHUTTERSTOCK

hacked the wireless doorbell of Matt,
his best friend. Kamkar learned how
to make the doorbell ring by sending
a text. This led to real-time slapstick:
Kamkar texts, the doorbell rings, Matt
steps outside, repeat. Kamkar calls
the hack “Digital Ding Dong Ditch.”
After an hour of ghostly ringing, Matt
called Kamkar, suspicious.
Kamkar says pure curiosity, not
malice, inspires his adventures. “I’ll
have an idea or want to understand
something,” he says. “What keeps
me up at night — in a good way
— is, what’s the next thing that can
be done? What’s the cutting-edge
stuff ?”
Hacking may seem a solitary

sport, but Kamkar sees value in

collaboration, which is why he shares

what he learns. “The people I hang

out with are friendly hackers,” says

Kamkar. “If I’m putting stuff out there

other people can use, they will think

of something I never will. That will

basically catapult me into the future.

We’re raising each other up.”

That idea resonates at the IoT

Village, an event organized by Ted

Harrington’s company, Independent

Security Evaluators. There, hackers

solve challenges, like finding known

vulnerabilities in an IoT device or

finding unknown security flaws in

new devices. At an IoT Village event

last year, one of the prizes was a

smart TV — the one the hackers

had just hacked.

“We’re getting everyone together

who is equally passionate about

solving security problems,” Harrington

says. “They’re competitive against

themselves, and against the status quo.”

Collaboration is necessary to

outrace malicious actors in the near

future, Harrington, Wang and others

say. Medical devices, transportation

infrastructure and the electric grid

are all vulnerable. Harrington worries

botnet and other attacks will get

worse before they get better, and

he doesn’t think consumers learned

any lessons from last year’s Dyn hit.

They’re still not going to change their

THE HACKABLE HOME

The number of a household’s connected devices — each a part of the “internet of things” — will likely only grow.

But as convenience improves, so will the chances of a malicious hacker gaining entry to your digital life. With your

home network as a central hub, an infiltration of any of the devices could put your entire house at risk.