Editor’s Note: Federal regulation of all consumer-related cybersecurity is inevitable.
From: The Verge
Home intruders no longer need to come in through the kitchen window. Instead, they can waltz right in through the front door, even when a home is protected by an internet-connected alarm system. A vulnerability in Comcast’s Xfinity Home Security System could allow attackers to open protected doors and windows without triggering alarms, researchers with cybersecurity firm Rapid7 wrote in a blog post today.
The security bug relates back to the way in which the system’s sensors communicate with their home base station. Comcast’s system uses the popular ZigBee protocol, but doesn’t maintain the proper checks and balances, allowing a given sensor to go minutes or even hours without checking in. The biggest hurdle in exploiting the vulnerability is finding or building a radio jammer, which are illegal under federal law. Attackers can also circumvent alarms with a software-based de-authentication attack on the ZigBee protocol itself, although that method requires more expertise. Attackers would also need to know a house was using the Xfinity system before attempting to break in, a major hurdle in exploiting the finding.
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