Now here’s the bad news: Putting a bunch of wirelessly connected devices in one area could prove irresistible to hackers. And it could allow them to spread malicious code through the air, like a flu virus on an airplane.
Researchers report in a paper to be made public on Thursday that they have uncovered a flaw in a wireless technology that is often included in smart home devices like lights, switches, locks, thermostats...The researchers focused on the Philips Hue smart light bulb and found that the wireless flaw could allow hackers to take control of the light bulbs...
That may not sound like a big deal. But imagine thousands or even hundreds of thousands of internet-connected devices in close proximity. Malware created by hackers could be spread like a pathogen among the devices by compromising just one of them. more
UPDATE
This Virus Automatically Kills Smart Light Bulbs
A group of researchers says they found a way to have a self-replicating worm spread through internet-connected lightbulbs, turning them them off, bricking them, or make them all turn on and off multiple times to disrupt the electric grid. “A single infected lamp with a modified firmware which is plugged-in anywhere in the city can start an explosive chain reaction in which each lamp will infect and replace the firmware in all its neighbors within a range of up to a few hundred meters,” the researchers wrote in the paper. more
