Securing the Smart Home, from Toasters to Toilets

Efforts are underway to make your smart toiletand other connected devicesless vulnerable to hackers.

In late December, a researcher at enterprise security company Proofpoint noticed something strange: a security gateway was logging hundreds of thousands of malicious e-mails that were clearly being sent out by over 100,000 Linux-running devices, but they werent PCs. Rather, they were Internet-connected consumer gadgets including routers, TVs, multimedia centers, and even a fridge.