The Worst Cyber Attacks Of 2014: 5 Of The Most Terrifying Hacks

In today's world almost everything is now “smart”. Anything from traffic systems to fridges, home lighting to baby monitors, are connected, and "smart". The buzz around “the Internet of Things” is increasing, but we’re realising that the "things" are not always as safe as we’d like.

Unlike the Windows operating system, for instance, which constantly updates its defences, a baby monitor or Wi-Fi light bulb is a cheap device and may never have its protection upgraded at all.

Cybercriminals are usually motivated by money. Credit card details and other personal information will remain a main target for most. However, the “way in” may not be through our PCs, but through other systems that are easier to hack into. Here are this year's top five scariest hacks...

Attack of the green men

Think of the chaos caused when a set of traffic lights gets stuck on red or stops working altogether. Now imagine if hackers were able to take over an entire city’s traffic light system. Mayhem.

Earlier this year, Argentinian researcher Cesar Cerrudo conducted a controlled test to take control of Manhattan’s traffic system using the sensors which feed information about road use to traffic light controllers.

Vulnerabilities in the system meant that it was possible to hack, monitor and change data, turning lights on and off at will. The test was carried out using an airborne drone, enabling hackers to work remotely to infiltrate and send bogus data to the traffic light system.

“An attacker can also control lights for personal gain. Lights could be changed to be green along the route the attacker is driving,” the researchers wrote.

 “Since these attacks are remote, this could even be done automatically as they drove, with the lights being reset to normal functionality after they pass through the intersection.”

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Shop tills can steal your card details

Ever wondered how safe your card details are every time you pop your flexible friend into a shop's point-of-sale (POS) machine to make a payment? The answer, unfortunately, is not very - particularly in America.

The U.S. government issued a warning this weekend that hackers had infiltrated shop tills. Point-of-sale terminals, at 1,000 companies in America. In one attack, one in four Americans had their card details stolen by software covertly inserted into tills in the store Target.

PF Chang’s restaurant reverted to using carbon paper card machines, Seventies-style, after staff realised their systems had been meddled with.

The sheer volume of credit card details being swiped through POS machines make them
highly desirable to hackers and, you’ll be alarmed to hear, they are relatively insecure.

Criminals have written malicious software which specifically targeted POS machines, cycling through credit card numbers from the POS’s memory and trying PIN combinations until they hit the jackpot. The credit card numbers are then sold online.

Attacks range from the sophisticated to the fairly low tech, where hackers disable a POS machine and then call the retailer pretending to be from the bank to grab individual customer details.

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The first wireless hack against a car in motion

Nowadays on-board sensors and satellite navigation systems give vital data such as on-road position, provide maps, communication systems and even control simple car functions such as windows, doors, headlights and windscreen wipers.

The risk of hackers tapping into the sensors used in our vehicles and taking control has been talked about for years. But this month, a team of Chinese students did it. The team were able to successfully hack into a Tesla Model S and control the headlights, horn and even open the doors and sunroof whilst the car was in motion.

Tesla is investigating how the Chinese team did it, but the general consensus is that while on-board technology is advancing at a frantic pace, the measures to protect us may be falling short.

The future will see vehicles that wirelessly communicate with the internet and, as a result, the vulnerability of our cars to attacks will increase dramatically.

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Is your TV watching you?

Most of us have more "smart devices" in our homes than we realise. From internet TVs, heating systems and even connected digital photo frames, the list is only getting longer.

It is their always-on, connected nature that makes these devices easy to infiltrate, allowing hackers to spy on their victims using their own gadgets.

Anything with a camera is a particular threat: and these days, that includes many television models. Security researchers were able to access a Samsung Smart TV’s on-board camera and watch video recorded through it.

Smart home security systems could also be turned on their owners. The cameras we buy to protect ourselves could instead be used to spy on us. With cheap electronics, such as webcams, there’s little motivation for manufacturers to secure them, unless forced to by government regulations.

Hotel of horrors

Imagine your hotel room door unlocking itself during the night, and all the lights in your room suddenly going out at once.

Worse still, your attacker isn’t even nearby: he’s controlling your room via the hotel’s network.

This month, a Chinese hacker used an iPad to show off how easy such hacks actually are. He took over 200 suites at once in a five-star hotel in China which used an ageing network system (still used in a few hotels in Europe), and was able to change the channel, adjust the thermostat, and even raise the blinds as well.

Jesus Molina, the researcher, said he did it because he was “bored”. “I thought about looking to see if a similar system controlled the door locks but got scared,” says Molina. Instead, he switched off all the “Do Not Disturb” signs on the doors.