Cyber criminals are increasingly turning their attention to hacking Internet of Things devices as connected products proliferate – and there's one smart device in particular that is catching hackers' attention.
While routers remain the top target for IoT-based cyber attacks, there's a lot of discussion in underground forums around compromising internet-connected gas pumps.
This new target was uncovered by by researchers at Trend Micro, which carried out an examination of dark web marketplaces in five different languages - Russian, Portuguese, English, Arabic, and Spanish.
The Internet of Things in the Cybercrime Underground report describes how the Russian market is the most sophisticated of the underground communities and one in which cyber criminals are keen to make money from attacks and exploits.
One way this is already being achieved is by hackers selling modified smart meters, following on from Russian government legislation mandating that all electricity meters in the country should be replaced by online smart meters.
Criminals are already modifying the firmware of these devices – although currently these alterations appear to be based around exploiting the devices to trick them into recording lower readings, meaning users will have lower bills.
However, users of Russian underground forums are also requesting information on how to hack gas pumps, with tutorials available on the inner workings of commercial pumps, including those with programmable logic controllers. These controllers are often found in factories and other industrial environments and can ..
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