First time a refrigerator is used by hackers to send spam email

Security researchers at Proofpoint have uncovered the very first wide-scale business attack using television sets and at least one refrigerator.  I assure this is no joke.

In the press release, Proofpoint explains:

• The attack was a malicious email, typically sent in blasts to 100,000 email addresses, three times per day, targeting businesses and individuals worldwide
• About three-quarters of the emails were sent by comprised computers, but the rest were sent by hacked home appliances.
• The hack happened between December 23, 2013 and January 6, 2014

Hackers didn’t have to be amazingly smart when breaking into home appliances. Many times they gained access because the home owners didn’t set them up correctly, or used the default password that came with the device.  What’s worse, is these kind of appliances are in business office break rooms.  A hacker could gain access to your business network the next time you install that new refrigerator in the break room.  Welcome to the age of unsecured Internet of Things!