The IoT is the next step to keep today’s business advantage in the competitive market of home appliances, but it also represents a big risk, especially regarding cybersecurity. A leaky system can allow hackers to reach the main computing system of a factory or the whole infrastructure of a central power grid, causing huge disasters.
Galanz, the largest microwave oven manufacturer in the world, teamed up with intive security specialists to secure their IoT platform for smart microwaves. The company needed to deal with potential threats such as data leaks or powerful botnets attacking and taking down the IT infrastructure.
Following a systematic security testing approach, the whole security environment was analyzed and potentially risky areas were found.
The process consisted of:
Threat modelling part 1 – a thorough review of the design
Threat modelling part 2 – an inventory of the threats
Penetration tests of the web portal and mobile applications
Penetration tests of the IoT devices, together with the protocol of communication between devices and server
Finally, after two months of testing the whole system, a list of several important improvements that would strengthen the security of the platform was suggested. The systematic approach helped categorize threats and prepare a comprehensive roadmap for a security approach that provides safety of data while customers use the IoT platform implemented in Galanz microwaves.