The Unseen Insider Threat
The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) has brought tremendous benefits to business and industry. Connected systems, smart sensors, and automation are helping organizations move faster and operate more efficiently than ever before.
But there’s a darker side to this technology boom. The same devices that make our lives easier are quietly opening backdoors into corporate environments. Printers, IP cameras, HVAC systems, and medical devices are becoming the invisible gateways that threat actors use to slip past traditional defenses.
These aren’t futuristic attacks—they’re happening right now. And most organizations don’t even realize it.
A Growing and Often Ignored Risk
The numbers speak for themselves.
- More than 75 billion IoT devices are expected to be connected by 2025.
- 97% of organizations report struggling with IoT security issues.
- Over half of IoT devices have medium-to-high-severity vulnerabilities.
Most of these devices are unmanaged, unmonitored, and in many cases, can’t even be patched. Add in certificate outages, weak authentication, and poor network segmentation, and it’s easy to see why attackers are taking notice.
For many companies, IoT has become a blind spot—one that can cost millions when exploited.
When Convenience Becomes a Compromise
The reason IoT risk is so difficult to manage is simple: these devices were never built with security in mind.
They ship with default credentials, use unencrypted communications, and often have open management interfaces that anyone can access. Updates are rare, monitoring is limited, and they’re usually sitting on the same network as critical business systems.
What was once a simple printer or thermostat can now serve as an entry point into the heart of a corporate network.
How the Attacks Happen
Attackers tend to follow a predictable playbook:
- Scan the network to find exposed or misconfigured devices.
- Exploit weak credentials or outdated firmware to gain access.
- Use the compromised device to move laterally into internal systems.
- Maintain persistence and quietly exfiltrate sensitive data.
Because IoT devices are rarely monitored, attackers can stay hidden for months—or even years.
Real-World Examples
We don’t have to look far to see how serious this problem has become.
Akira Ransomware (2025)
When attackers couldn’t deploy ransomware on Windows systems protected by EDR, they pivoted to an unsecured Linux-based IP camera. That webcam became their entry point to encrypt network files and bypass traditional defenses completely.
PrintNightmare (2021)
The Print Spooler vulnerability gave attackers SYSTEM-level access across all Windows versions. With hundreds of thousands of unsecured printers exposed online, it highlighted how easy it is to weaponize overlooked devices.
Healthcare IoT Exposure
Hospitals around the world have more than a million medical IoT devices exposed online. MRI machines, infusion pumps, and other connected equipment have been compromised—contributing to the highest breach costs of any industry.
Target HVAC Breach
The 2013 Target breach remains one of the clearest examples. Attackers used a third-party HVAC connection to compromise 40 million customer records. That same technique still works today in many environments.
iLOBleed Firmware Attacks
Firmware-level implants like iLOBleed exploit HPE’s Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) management technology to maintain deep, persistent access to servers. Even reinstalling the operating system doesn’t remove the infection.
Why IoT Is the Perfect Foothold
IoT devices make life easy for attackers because they’re:
- Everywhere, across every industry.
- Trusted by design and often allowed inside secure networks.
- Rarely monitored or logged.
- Always on and rarely updated.
They’re the perfect combination of convenience and complacency.
Securing the Invisible
There’s no single fix for IoT risk, but there are steps every organization can take right now:
Short-Term Actions
- Find every device. You can’t protect what you don’t know about.
- Segment networks. Keep IoT traffic isolated from sensitive systems.
- Change default credentials. Never leave factory passwords in place.
- Improve visibility. Add IoT-aware monitoring to your environment.
Long-Term Strategy
- Build security into procurement. Don’t buy devices that can’t be updated or secured.
- Plan for lifecycle management. Patch, replace, and retire devices on a schedule.
- Adopt Zero Trust principles. Verify everything, even internal devices.
- Establish clear IoT policies. Define ownership and accountability.
The key is to stop treating IoT as “out of scope.” These devices are part of your attack surface, whether you manage them or not.
Final Thoughts
IoT devices are not just convenient gadgets—they’re potential entry points for some of the most damaging attacks we’ve seen.
Every camera, printer, and sensor on your network represents a system that can be compromised. The sooner organizations accept that, the sooner they can take meaningful steps to defend against it.
As defenders, our job is to close these invisible gateways before someone else walks through them.
