Help! My Fish Tank Has Been Hacked!

The most infamous fish tank of all isn’t the kind you’d find at your local pet store. Instead, it’s housed at a Las Vegas casino, boasting a capacity of tens of thousands of gallons of water and featuring cool attributes like remote monitoring of temperature, salinity, acidity, and oxygen levels. These aspects are crucial for aquatics specialists but often overlooked by network engineers.

The specific thermometer on this tank was connected to the internet and had a vulnerability that allowed a malicious actor to connect to it. From there, the hacker moved through the network, located a database of confidential files, and exfiltrated them. These are the kinds of issues that network engineers care about, and for a casino where security and confidentiality are paramount, being breached through a fish tank is the ultimate embarrassment.

We may not specialize in securing fish tanks against intruders, but we excel at network segmentation—a defense method that dramatically reduces hackers’ ability to reach sensitive network areas. If the casino had utilized network segmentation, even after the hacker connected to the thermometer, they wouldn’t have been able to access the rest of the network where confidential files are stored. The hacker would have remotely accessed the fish tank, admired it, and gone no further.

In a world where more devices than ever are connected to the internet, many without a real need to be (does anyone really need their refrigerator to deliver the latest news?), network segmentation is more crucial than ever. Something as simple to set up as segmentation can:

• Prevent unauthorized access to sensitive network areas.

• Limit the spread of potential breaches, confining them to less critical zones.

• Enhance overall network security by isolating vulnerable devices.

• Protect confidential files and data from easy exfiltration.

• Make it challenging for hackers to navigate through the network.

• Offer a solution for securing networks with numerous internet-connected devices.

Network segmentation isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires a deep understanding of your network architecture, traffic patterns, and unique organizational risks. By tailoring segmentation strategies to your specific needs, you can ensure each network segment is adequately protected and monitored. Regular assessments and updates to your network segmentation plan are vital, as new devices and potential vulnerabilities continue to emerge. Implementing this proactive approach can be the difference between a minor security hiccup and a major data breach. Network 1 Consulting can help implement your network segmentation in a way that makes sense and keeps you secure.