Secura presents: the Hacker Playhouse
A miniature house filled with insecure smart devices: meet the Hacker Playhouse. Our IoT security experts use it to demonstrate the impact of insecure IoT devices.
Dangers of smart homes
People are relying more and more on technology. Mainly for convenience, but also for protection. Their house is no exception. So called ‘smart homes’ are becoming more popular by the day and are equipped with all kinds of IoT devices, from smart TV’s to smart alarm systems. However: this means that our homes are becoming more vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Secura’s Hacker Playhouse (a project led by Jasper Nota and Yurii Bilyk) is a large dollhouse (yes, you read that correctly), equipped with all kinds of popular IoT devices, which are available for purchase on the free market.
This Hacker Playhouse serves as an IoT hacking demonstration kit. It shows users and product manufacturers what kind of consequences insecure IoT devices can have when criminally minded hackers or tech-savvy burglars take an interest in someone’s smart home.
Senior security specialist Jasper Nota demonstrates the Hacker Playhouse
Popular and affordable devices
When designing the demonstration kit, Jasper and Yurii selected potentially vulnerable devices that could be fitted into the house. To select those devices, they filtered for popular and affordable IoT devices on well-known web shops and simply started testing them. If they identified serious vulnerabilities within a short time frame, they added the device to the kit.
If not, they sent back the device within the legal 14-day cooling-off period. Of all the devices that Jasper and Yurii ordered for the testing phase, only one item was sent back, because the team deemed it not insecure enough. (Kudos to the manufacturer of that particular device).
Jasper Nota, Secura
A dollhouse looks like a home, so the demonstrations become more relatable. There is a real chance that observers have the exact same devices in their own house.
The smart front door lock and smart alarm system in the Hacker Playhouse
Demonstrations and training
Secura’s Hacker Playhouse will be used for demonstration purposes. But Secura will also use the kit to educate their own employees on how to hack IoT devices, and as an assessment tool for potential new employees. Jasper and Yurii also created a James bond themed Capture The Flag-challenge (CTF) for their colleagues. The challenge: completing objectives by misusing the discovered vulnerabilities.
Do you want a demonstration of the Hacker Playhouse?
Secura's IoT security team gives regular demonstrations of the Hacker Playhouse. Are you interested in a demo? Or do you want more information on our IoT services? Fill out the form below and we will get back to you within one business day.
