#Technology: Government Agencies and Hospitals Face Increasing Risk of IoT-Powered Cyberattacks

If you paid even the slightest attention to tech media and conferences in 2016, you heard how the Internet of Things (IoT) is the next big thing. While there’s hype surrounding the tremendous opportunity the IoT offers, there are still hazards that have yet to be properly addressed. The biggest concern -- safety -- is a thorny topic with which enterprises are still grappling. For example, 2016’s DDoS attack on Dyn that took down several major websites such as Twitter was caused by a bot army of unsecured IoT devices. This attack is only the tip of the iceberg, and in 2017 we should expect more of the same, but websites and companies won’t be the only targets. Unless manufacturers and users of connected devices get serious about security, we will see these attacks evolve this year. I believe that there’s a significant chance these attacks could extend to major government institutions and hospitals.