Slick IoT Gizmo ‘Dojo’ Will Protect Your Connected Devices From Cyber Attacks

By David Shamah, The Times of Israel December 03, 2015 3 minutes

Dojo. Courtesy

This article was first published by The Times of Israel and was re-posted with permission.

More connected devices are connecting with more databases and sharing more information than ever – and we’re just at the beginning of the data-gathering revolution that the Internet of Things will bring us. Unfortunately, according to security expert Kaspersky Lab, that provides hackers with more opportunities to steal more data, especially from IoT (Internet of Things) devices that are essentially unprotected.

“The bond of trust between users and their devices can lead them to forget about security,” said Victor Yablokov, head of mobile product line at Kaspersky Lab.

Dojo’s App. Courtesy

“It’s hard to imagine that something we carry close to us at all times and turn to for everything could ever become a threat. But it can, and does happen. A digital friend can become a digital frenemy,” doing good for us while doing harm at the same time, he said.

“A failure to appreciate the potential risks and to protect our devices and information accordingly could mean the loss of confidential information, money and even our identities. Security is simply not an optional extra.”

From TVs to tablets, ‘Dojo’ keeps connected devices secure

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To the rescue comes an Israeli start-up called Dojo Labs, which, with a stylish stone-like device, will monitor all data sent by anything connected to the Internet – smart TVs, smartphones, smart tablets, smart refrigerators, even smart water faucets – to determine whether they are sending out data in amounts or in ways that do not fit their profile.

Such activity, according to Dojo co-founder and CEO Yosi Atias, could be a signal that a hacker has taken control of a device and is using a device as a way to get into a network and steal sensitive data.

“A hacker isn’t necessarily interested in a specific device, like a connected refrigerator,” Atias told The Times of Israel. “But they may use it as a gateway to get into a network and steal data from a computer that is on the network, or even activate a camera or microphone and upload the video via their hack.”

Dojo. Courtesy

In other words, a smart TV that a user thinks was turned off could be activated remotely by a hacker who breaks into the network via, for example, a connected weather station that downloads temperature and humidity information from the network, and is connected to a home heating system. If that smart TV is in the bedroom, a hacker could get hold of some very intimate footage by activating a webcam in a smart TV – with the victim clueless until they find out from YouTube that they are the stars of a porno.

Smartphones and other connected devices are more a part of life than ever, a study released last week by Kaspersky Lab said. Smart devices “are carried and used everywhere, including at work (52 percent), in a car (41 percent), on public transport (39 percent), in bed (58 percent) and even in the bathroom (29 percent).”