Featured Article from Software Licensing

Hacking in an interesting practice. Criminals use the activity on a daily basis to manipulate software and look for vulnerabilities in networks in order to gain access to proprietary information. The activity can be very lucrative, especially for those who are good at it without getting caught.

There’s also another form of hacking that doesn’t draw the eyes of regulators – one that is considered legal. The U.S. Library of Congress has given the OK for device owners to circumvent restrictions put in place by manufacturers in order to use a device as they see fit. For those wanting to make money through software licensing, this could be considered a nightmare.

For the consumer, however, it stands to reason that they would have full control over the device they own. As highlighted in a recent blog post by software licensing solutions company, Flexera Software, this activity, known as rooting or jailbreaking a device, involves the use of security exploits to break the security protection on the device. The owner can then run unsigned or third party software on any mobile device.

While there are particular guidelines that have to be followed in order for this activity to still be legal, the practice itself allows hackers to legally build tools that allowing for modifying or tinkering the IoT device and apps in an effort to take advantage of additional capabilities and features that the owner does not have the right to use. The proper software licensing is no longer in place and a simple reliance on the device or the app store to provide the necessary security within application containers will no longer be secure enough.

As a result, Flexera Software recommends that IoT device manufacturers and application developers focus on detection and prevention security layers as a means to mitigate security threats. One example is the use of software protection-based techniques such as tamper resistance technology that allow the app to detect unauthorized modification of software binaries and call home to report and potentially download updates.

Security it truly at the heart of the matter, even as software licensing is still an issue. Manufacturers are likely to find a way around the latter, but users are truly putting themselves and their information at risk when they tamper with their devices. Should they have the right – sure. Should they be provided the same assumed protections? When electing to hack a device, the user should then take on all responsibility for security.