Hacker target. What first came to your mind when you hear it? Most people will come with similar answer. Gadgets. PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone, and maybe server. This is the most common answer. Is that wrong? Well, not necessarily. See, we give this answer not because we understand about hacking. This is the answer we receive from news. Every now and then, there are always news about hacking attempt. And since our brain is more attracted to bad news than good news, we store this memory deep inside our mind. This is the reason when someone asked us about hacker target, we’ll tell what we remember from the news.

This made me wonder about something. Are those devices are the only hacker target? What if the news didn’t tell us the whole story? This question bothered me. So, I tried digging for some information. What I found next is amazing. Our gadgets are not the only hacker target. In fact, I also found that sometimes hacker are interested in other targets.

Unusual Hacker Target

Webcam

If you want to be a real hacker, you must know how to hack a web cam. For hackers, this is one of their basic skills. They can turn on your webcam from remote location and then spy on you. All done without you noticing it. It is really easy for them to do this.

Home automation system

Home automation system is the next unusual hacker target. Today, when houses are getting smarter. More and more IoT devices are installed in houses. People can control how their house behaves. From heat to light. From garage doors to AC systems. You can control almost anything without moving from your seat. While it may sound great, this system is vulnerable to hacking. But, that’s not the most dangerous part of it. It is us. Many of us still don’t believe hacking over home automation system is possible. That’s why we ignore it. Even its very possibility. That what makes it dangerous. An unusual hacker target.

Traffic light

Another unusual hacker target is traffic light. In some countries, ambulance drivers can switch traffic lights if necessary. It allows them to get a trouble-free route to reach and deliver the patient. The question is, what if the drivers are not the only one? What about hackers? If ambulance drivers can switch the lights, then it must be easy for hackers to do the same thing. Never seen it? Maybe because it’d be quite catastrophic if it happened. There’ll be chaos on the road. More if the hackers don’t care about anything.

Garage door openers

Your garage door is another unusual hacker target. A security researcher, Samy Kamkar, just proved this to everyone. What did he use? An old, little toy from Mattel. With few modifications, he used to control a garage door. Thanks to the garage owner, Samy is a security researcher, not a hacker. He only opened our eyes on security. Things we thought impossible are being done now.

Prison cell doors

When I wrote this list, I expected prison cell doors not to be our next unusual hacker target. You can see my reason. Perhaps, this is the scariest hacker target ever. Without disrespecting the other, there are bad people there. A lot of them. Hacking into prison cell doors, for me, is like another doomsday. If only I could, I wish hackers never have this ability. But, the fact is, they can do it. With a button, they can let any prisoner out of their cells. What will happen next? It depends on who the hacker.

Nuclear power plants

Hacking has evolved. It is not only about hacking a device. In December 2014, the world learned something new about hacking. That month, South Korea lost its top secret test data and blueprint. Some security experts believe that the stolen data has information about South Korea’s nuclear power plant. Anyone with this data could hack into the system. And guess what? The experts believe that North Korea was behind this attack. Two years have passed now. It seems nothing has changed. But, that’s on the surface. Who knows what really happens deep down there. Really, nuclear power plant is a creepy hacker target.

Vehicles

Everything is getting smarter nowadays. Not only houses, but also vehicles especially. More and more features are getting installed in latest vehicles. These features are supposed to bring a comfortable driving to everyone. However, these features also posses significant security risk. Here is an example. In 2014 Battelle Cyber Auto Challenge, a boy easily hacked a car. Do you know how old was he? 14 years. He wasn’t a pro hacker, yet a car fell into his victim.

No complex coding. Only a bit of soldering and simple codes. Here are what he got in return. He controlled the car from remote location. He could honk the horn, start the vehicle, control windshield wipers, and unlock the doors.

Sounds creepy? Well, because it does. Just imagine what a hacker could do with more advanced stuffs. More unusual hacker target will come to my list, it seems.

ATMs

Everything has a secret, including ATM. It may look tough from the outside. The fact is, it isn’t. Even if you don’t have the card and PIN number, you can still get the money. How? Hack it. Is it unusual? Perhaps. But all real hackers know how to make ATM their hacker target. Here is an example. Not so recently, someone got into a Triton ATM. The machine was new. So, it was only protected by default passcode: 123456. The bank was supposed to change the passcode as soon as the machine arrived. The problem is, someone forgot his/her job to change it. The default passcode sat there long enough for a hacker to find about it. Then, things went worse. The hacker stole $400,000 from the ATM.

Wi-Fi digital cameras

Got Wi-Fi enabled on your digital camera? Prepare yourself for this news. The next unusual hacker target in our list is your camera. Hackers can hack into your camera. For what? Anything. They can steal and sell your image, at least. Or to be worse, they can use your own stuff to spy on you.

Pacemakers

The last hacker target on our list is pacemaker. This one is quite different. Until now, there’s no record of someone hacked into pacemaker. But, never let your guard down. Security experts always warn about pacemaker security. It is possible for hacker to attack a pacemaker. Remember, those experts aren’t stupid. They won’t warn us unless it’s very important. Imagine someone you know got a pacemaker inside his/her chest. Instead of enjoying his/her new life, someone just decided to hack the pacemaker. What do you think will happen then?

That’s it. This is our list of unusual hacker target. We don’t want to scare you. We made this list to make you aware of security risks around you.

Want to add something to our list? Comment below 🙂