Radiation-blocking underwear and 18 other bizarre smart ‘things’ that could let hackers into your smart home (and one device to protect you)

No object, however mundane, cannot be improved with a computer chip: this seems to be the philosophy driving development of smart ‘things’ in the smart home arena.

It was partly this scattergun approach that prompted Wired magazine to prophesise the demise of the internet of things (IoT) at the start of 2017.

Click on the icons in our infographic below to check out 19 of the most bizarre or – according to IoT sceptics – pointless devices that are creating new vectors of attack for cybercriminals.

Security is little more than an afterthought on too many devices, with criminals able to guess default usernames and passwords by trawling Google. We haven’t chosen these 19 devices based on security – some may have very rigorous security mechanisms in place. Rather, we chose the most bizarre devices, and paradoxically, in this context, bizarre also means ‘mundane’ – the point being: is a smart hair brush or smart fork really going to deliver benefits that warrant creating new avenues through which hackers could break into your home network?

Several products designed to boost IoT security were launched at CES 2017, suggesting the industry is waking up to the threat. We’ve included one of them below – flagged with a red icon.

Subscribe to the IFSEC Insider weekly newsletters

Enjoy the latest fire and security news, updates and expert opinions sent straight to your inbox with IFSEC Insider's essential weekly newsletters. Subscribe today to make sure you're never left behind by the fast-evolving industry landscape.

Sign up now!

Subscribe to the newsletter ✉️