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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRefrigerator discovered to be sending out spam emails
A fridge has been discovered sending out spam after a web attack managed to compromise smart gadgets. The fridge was one of more than 100,000 devices used to take part in the spam campaign.
Uncovered by security firm Proofpoint the attack compromised computers, home routers, media PCs and smart TV sets. The attack is believed to be one of the first to exploit the lax security on devices that are part of the "internet of things".
The spam attack took place between 23 December 2013 and 6 January this year, said Proofpoint in a statement. In total, it said, about 750,000 messages were sent as part of the junk mail campaign. The emails were routed through the compromised gadgets.
About 25% of the messages seen by Proofpoint researchers did not pass through laptops, desktops or smartphones, it said. Instead, the malware managed to get itself installed on other smart devices such as kitchen appliances, the home media systems on which people store copied DVDs and web-connected televisions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25780908
Sentath
(2,243 posts)Needs to run more secure software.
Baclava
(12,047 posts)it never hurts to encourage small appliances
William769
(55,146 posts)Does it talk back?
Baclava
(12,047 posts)but a bedtime story never hurts
uppityperson
(115,677 posts)it was a book too.
Baclava
(12,047 posts)yourout
(7,527 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]All things in moderation, including moderation.[/center][/font][hr]
elleng
(130,895 posts)Shandris
(3,447 posts)I don't think my toaster needs a Facebook account or to check stock quotes. With that in mind, I think I'll just keep it 'dumb'.
I mean yah, it would be nice to be able to make some hot cocoa on the way home from the store, but...its just not worth all the invasive risk for the convenience of saving four minutes.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)total jerk.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Now it's flush.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,649 posts)Shit.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Brother Buzz
(36,423 posts)dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)aka East End Thug in that comedy show. He's a good actor. The link you posted was where he played Brick Top in Snatch.
Brother Buzz
(36,423 posts)And also I've seen him in Snuff Box.
Thanks for the heads up on The Armando Iannucci Shows . Fun
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)in fact I wasn't even aware of it which is odd because I'm UK.
I'll check it out.
randome
(34,845 posts)After all, he's the loneliest repairman in the world and he only wanted to reach out.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Precision and concision. That's the game.[/center][/font][hr]
RC
(25,592 posts)For one, is there even enough memory to store a spam program in an Internet connected refrigerator? Let alone being able to run a program residing in memory? Web connected kitchen appliances are rather specialized devices, so why have full blown computers in them, which is needed to blast out spam? You can install Microsoft Outlook on your computer? Who knew?
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)There's one I saw at Fry's with a BSOD up on it. Not sure if it was XP, XP Embedded, or some variation of win7.
As for how much it requires to send email- opening a socket and sending spam isn't difficult. socket libraries are small; I've seen them as small as 2k of text, pre-compile. Or you could just use the built-in inet.dll and have access to all kinds of services.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)It probably needs to be restarted each and every day, and has to do updates once a month.
What will the reefer do when Windoze crashes, as it normally does, at least a couple of times a year?
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)There is a sickly green ichor in the bottom of the veggie drawer, the mushrooms have grown fungi of their own, and the beer is warm.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)Usually they're set up to restart on fault, and have the image on a CF card, so reboots are quite fast.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)is ten minutes.
Not too long for your ice cream to defrost, but what happens when the RAM fails, and you get a BSOD?
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)Imagine XP without all the crap that microsoft includes with a base install. Only the drivers you need, no extra programs, services, or subsystems that you'll never use (I'm looking at you, IPX).
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)We have 100% solid state XPE boxes that boot in less than 15 seconds. This includes the BIOS post, OS start, log in, and kiosk app start.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)Glassunion
(10,201 posts)You cannot get a reasonably sized drive without spending a fortune. But man they are fast.
We have kiosk PCs with 0 moving parts. No Disk Drives, no fans, nothing. We can run them in very hot and very cold environments without issue. All of this and it runs using less than 1/3 of the electricity of a regular PC.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)Of course this was before SATA-3 or whatever the latest standard is, so I don't take it as representative.
I've also got a fanless atom box that I use for microscopy capture / streaming- quite a nice little box.
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)There was one benchmark test I read about, where they got the latest Apple OS X to boot on a MacBook Pro in 9 seconds using SSD drives.
Duer 157099
(17,742 posts)What happens when a compressor fails?
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)RAM fails more frequently than compressors.
Uh, yeah. The fridge has to run software in order to be "smart".
You don't need a "full blown" computer to send email. SMTP is very easy, and you're talking about transmitting about 1K of text over and over again.
You don't need a heavy client like Outlook. After all, the fridge won't be displaying or otherwise organizing the email.
Consider this: Computers in the 1960s were sending and receiving email. They had about 1/10th the computing power of a modern calculator.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)that computer apps have to be huge, bloated, slow, and stupid.
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)There is enough memory. Samsung models in particular you can store photo albums, download apps, and even have their own e-mail client built in. Others like Electrolux run on Linux, while others run on Windows. The internet enabled units tend have a decent amount of storage for the user to download apps like Pandora, twitter, etc...
You don't need a full blown computer to blast out spam. Bots can be very small in size, and can flow through spam quite easily. All you need is memory space for the program to run, and a connection to the internet.
RC
(25,592 posts)Glassunion
(10,201 posts)Growing up, my mom and dad had a small under the counter TV in the kitchen. This is the same concept, but now you can pop on a show from Netflix, or cook right along with a Julia Child video. It would not work in my kitchen as once I'm in my kitchen, in either my prep or cooking areas, I cannot see the front of my fridge.
I no longer have paper recipes. I scanned all of our family's recipes and use my laptop to display them while I'm cooking. Other times, I'll cook right along with a YouTube video. It is handy. The downside, is that I cannot microwave while I have the laptop in the kitchen as it will block it.
The neat thing I can see about a smart fridge, is that you already have a fridge in the kitchen, and if you can add a device without taking up any additional space that would be a plus. Currently the smartest device I have in my kitchen is an old smartphone I use to play Pandora radio. I have a small speaker that I plug it into, then sit it on top of my fridge while I'm cooking. So on a technicality, my fridge has internet radio.
MineralMan
(146,288 posts)If it's on the Internet, there is spam of it. A new rule.
onehandle
(51,122 posts)The age of devices delivering spam is about to go crazy.
randome
(34,845 posts)Thermostat: "You touch me and you'll be in a world of hurt, young man!"
Dad: "Maybe later."
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]
underpants
(182,797 posts)Lmao off at your post
randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)The coffee tasted disgusting. Some sort of meat flavor. Maybe it was spam as well!
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)"Tastes like shit, but you can live on it." - Mick Dundee
Shrike47
(6,913 posts)haele
(12,652 posts)The latest and greatest for the "internet home", where you can supposedly text your oven to begin the meals or text your fridge to monitor and maintain special drawers for items you may want kept "just below frozen", or kept cold during the morning but brought at room temperature by the time you get home. Same with security or environmental control units.
If you can use e-mail or text to it, or wirelessly control it through an app, it can spam. That's just the nature of "smart" gadgets that can also communicate over the 'net.
Haele
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)my bung hole to know when to flush the toilet too.
This is just getting too unreal!
Why are people getting so damn lazy?
They will forget how to do things when this garbage fails.
I see it every day, as a computer support tech/network guy.
The more problems these bozos have, the more they think that they can throw technology at it to make it better.
Never mind that they can't even spell computers, they just want more.
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)petronius
(26,602 posts)to email my fridge before leaving work:
"Hey fridge, are there any beers left?"
"Hey fridge, is that chicken defrosted yet?"
"Hey fridge, which roommate nicked my last Fudgesicle (and can you please spoil their milk in revenge)?"
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)underpants
(182,797 posts)Just saying
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Wireless appliance networking has some real pluses, like remote controlling sound systems.
dlwickham
(3,316 posts)I think it was a phone line that hadn't been fully disconnected and was automatically calling this one number and the person whose number it was called the cops because she thought it was someone harassing her and the person who lived at the address where phone line was didn't even know that there was a phone line in his basement
wish I could remember the name of the show
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)I think it was in Oregon if my memory is correct.
klook
(12,154 posts)dembotoz
(16,802 posts)klook
(12,154 posts)Beacool
(30,247 posts)Naahh, just kidding. I don't eat the stuff.