Your Fridge Could Be Sending Spam (and We Don’t Mean the Meat Product)

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Your Fridge Could Be Sending Spam (and We Don't Mean the Meat Product)

That fact that there is an entire industry devoted to keeping unwanted software off your hard drive proves that computer security has been crap for years. We’ve spent billions on anti-virus programs, and we’re still getting spam from all over the world. And it’s about to get worse. The problem stems from the fact that we are now making smart appliances but still engaging in stupid security habits. This very minute, your refrigerator could be spamming the globe.

Proofpoint is a computer research consultancy that deals with security issues. They have issued a statement about a botnet (also known as a zombie army, a bunch of hijacked computers working to spread spam and misery on the Internet) of 100,000 that sent out 750,000 “malicious email communications” between Dec. 23, 2013 and Jan. 6, 2014. What is important here is that over “25 percent of the volume sent [was] by things that were not conventional laptops, desktop computers or mobile devices.” Proofpoint says that includes “multi-media centers, televisions and at least one refrigerator.” The consultancy says their findings raise “significant security implications for devices owners.”

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Yes, it’s cool to have a refrigerator that can tell you when your milk is about to go bad or a toothbrush that makes sure your plaque situation is under control. To do that, though, those devices need some computing capacity, and once you introduce that, your fridge can be a target for the guys who want to send spam. Our Internet of Things is going to have virus problems just like our existing Internet.

Not everyone is convinced that Proofpoint is onto something. The technophiles at Ars Technica, a major computer geek site, stated there was “a significant lack of technical detail for a report with such an extraordinary finding.” Dan Goodin, who wrote an article debunking the claim, said Proofpoint might have confused a computer with the refrigerator or smart TV if it’s on the same home network.  He added, “It’s also hard to understand why someone would go to all the trouble of infecting a smart device and then use it to send just 10 spam messages. Traditional spam botnets will push infected PCs to send as many messages as its resources allow. The botnet reported by Proofpoint requires too much effort and not enough reward.”

For me, though, the important thing he said was “what Proofpoint is reporting is plausible.” So, maybe their methodology is wrong, or maybe they faked the data to grab headlines. The point is that, even if this report is false or inaccurate, the idea of virus attacks from the Internet of Things is possible. The International Data Corporation estimates that there will be more than 200 billion things connected via the Internet by 2020, and if they each send just 10 piece of spam, that’s 2 trillion pieces.  If Proofpoint didn’t find a “thingbot,” I suspect it’s a matter of time before someone else does.

Read more: WILD MUSLIM WRITER AMER MADHANI ON CANNIBALISM: THE FAMILY THAT EATS TOGETHER?

Why? Because no one runs anti-virus software on their Hotpoint side-by-side refrigerator-freezer or their Whirlpool dryer. Heck, it’s hard enough to get people to use it on their computers.

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