Cellular Internet-of-Things modules - security risk?

There is an interesting article in The Times today by Charles Parton about the risks of the West relying on Chinese CIMs

The Times is pay-walled but you can read the full paper here https://www.oodaloop.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Cellular_IoT_Paper_JAN_Master_PDF.pdf

Does anyone use a defence against all the IoT things in their home?

I use Defendify, which probes my network for IoT vulnerabilities. I have multiple smart devices in my home - light bulbs, smart-TRVs, Sonos speakers, air-quality sensors, energy monitors and a washing machine etc and don't see any risk myself.

I had a separate guest network with it's own password set up on the Asus router, for all the smart devices - to keep them separate from the main network. I will be doing that again once I get the Starlink up and running permanently (it's being fitted to the wall today). The Starlink router doesn't have guest networks so all the smart devices are off right now - not risking it.

We have Echo shows, a ring doorbell and various smart bulbs and plugs.

The first smart device we got was the echo dot and a couple of smart plugs. It was when setting up the smart plugs I decided to have the separate guest network - because in signing up, it meant putting in your router password to get them working. Didn't like that so didn't want to give out the main router password.

None of my devices has ever needed the router password! Are you sure you don't mean the wi-fi password? Some of my gadgets connect by Bluetooth but they are not visible to others.

I like your idea of putting all your IoT gadgets on a separate network.

TrendMicro offer a free Home Network Scanner that seems promising.

Yes I meant the wifi password . But have a separate guest network with it's own wifi password.

Talking about IOT, I just experienced a problem with my Smart TV that I find very strange. I changed the Wi-Fi password on my router and reset all of my devices except for our main TV. The next day the HDMI ports wouldn't work when we turned on the TV. To get them working I had to unplug/plugin the TV. I was thinking that were going to be needing a new TV. After thinking about why the TV was doing this I remembered I hadn't set it up to the Wi-Fi. After setting up the Wi-Fi, the TV has been working. (Putting on my tin foil hat.) Is big brother monitoring what sources we use and what we watch? (Tin foil hat off.)

Run TrendMicro's Home Net Scanner to if there is any nefarious software in your TV.

Bitdefender have one too.

Winuser said:

(Putting on my tin foil hat.) Is big brother monitoring what sources we use and what we watch? (Tin foil hat off.)

Click to expand...

Maybe not. But crooks are.

In an experiment last year, a UK group set up a 'Smart home'.
Their router got scanned from the internet by unknown people every minute.
There was an unauthorised attempt to log in to their network every five minutes.

Best of luck,
Denis

kelper said:

Run TrendMicro's Home Net Scanner to if there is any nefarious software in your TV.

Bitdefender have one too.

Click to expand...

With our viewing habbits, they would be bored to death.

Try3 said:

Maybe not. But crooks are.

In an experiment last year, a UK group set up a 'Smart home'.
Their router got scanned from the internet by unknown people every minute.
There was an unauthorised attempt to log in to their network every five minutes.

Click to expand...

In the UK, don't your car thieves sit there and cycle thru every remote key lock combination and wait 15-20 min. before driving off??

I just ran a network scan with Eset Internet Security and no threats were found. I did find that the TV is running Linux.