A Turkey Tale

[Popeye]

the more options you had the more things there were to break.

Fundamentally you are absolutely correct. Things today break much sooner than they used to - growing up we had one oven. I’ve replaced two in the past 20 years.

But I admit, it is nice that the oven tells me the outside temperature and today’s forecast high…. (The turkey noises are unnecessary frivolity.)

Then again, I’m looking at a forty year old car as a summer daily driver… call me hypocritical and you’ll be correct. (Or, as I say, trying to have the best of both worlds )

Regardless, I hope everyone’s oven makes an incredible turkey and delicious pies to follow!

 

[LarryK]

My brother in law broke a pyrex bowl. My sister in law told him he has broken enough, they need to buy a new set. He walked into the TV (smart) and the first commercial was for pyrex.

 

[svtmikey]

If you have you IoT devices (Internet of Things) as we call them in the industry, you need to separate them from your regular internet traffic by putting them in a separate VLAN. There is obsoletely no security on these types of devices, and although them may not have a camera or microphone, they can very easily be monitoring all your internet traffic including banking, passwords, sites you visit, and on and on.
The other real donger is that you download a BOT the can be used by Hackers in what is called a Directed Denial of Service attack (DDOS) on a other internet sites and companies. What happens in a DDOS attack is the C and C site (Command and Control) sends your Oven and all the millions of other devices that have their BOT installed a command to start an attack on the site they are targeting. All the devices then begin the attack by constantly accessing the sites web page or servers, which overwhelms the sites servers, stopping all legitimate access and basically stopping the company from doing any business. In some cases, they just wat to do this maliciously, but sometimes they will ask for money before they stop the attack.
Have you checked with GE to confirm they sent the update, it seems a bit invasive to me.
My advice is turn the internet access on these devices off, or at least put them in a separate network (VLAN) from your regular traffic...do you really need your oven or fridge to talk to the world?
My 2 cents

 

[Gliderman8]

If you have you IoT devices (Internet of Things) as we call them in the industry, you need to separate them from your regular internet traffic by putting them in a separate VLAN. There is obsoletely no security on these types of devices, and although them may not have a camera or microphone, they can very easily be monitoring all your internet traffic including banking, passwords, sites you visit, and on and on.
The other real donger is that you download a BOT the can be used by Hackers in what is called a Directed Denial of Service attack (DDOS) on a other internet sites and companies. What happens in a DDOS attack is the C and C site (Command and Control) sends your Oven and all the millions of other devices that have their BOT installed a command to start an attack on the site they are targeting. All the devices then begin the attack by constantly accessing the sites web page or servers, which overwhelms the sites servers, stopping all legitimate access and basically stopping the company from doing any business. In some cases, they just wat to do this maliciously, but sometimes they will ask for money before they stop the attack.
Have you checked with GE to confirm they sent the update, it seems a bit invasive to me.
My advice is turn the internet access on these devices off, or at least put them in a separate network (VLAN) from your regular traffic...do you really need your oven or fridge to talk to the world?
My 2 cents

Done, thanks! My oven is now offline. I may enable Wi-Fi once in a while just to check for any possible updates, then disable it again.

 

[svtmikey]

Cool I actually just looked at the GE security page, cause I'm curious....LOL.
They talk a lot about their security, but I think that is about their corporate sites.
Right at the very end, they suggest putting their devices in a separate Network or VLAN, with no access to your regular network that you do your banking etc. on.
> Product-Security <

"Security experts recommend creating separate and secure networks dedicated for your IoT devices that are separate from your network used for banking or e-commerce activities or that which handles your most private and sensitive data. You can further segregate your networks based on the IoT device itself. There are two methods for this when using one Internet connection, (1) using one router and set up a “guest access” or a “guest network” within the router settings or (2) use separate routers paired with your Internet connection. If you choose to set up a guest network, ensure the password for the guest network is strong and, if available, ensure that access to local network resources is turned off, this may also be called “isolate”.

 

[Gliderman8]

Cool I actually just looked at the GE security page, cause I'm curious....LOL.
They talk a lot about their security, but I think that is about their corporate sites.
Right at the very end, they suggest putting their devices in a separate Network or VLAN, with no access to your regular network that you do your banking etc. on.
> Product-Security <

"Security experts recommend creating separate and secure networks dedicated for your IoT devices that are separate from your network used for banking or e-commerce activities or that which handles your most private and sensitive data. You can further segregate your networks based on the IoT device itself. There are two methods for this when using one Internet connection, (1) using one router and set up a “guest access” or a “guest network” within the router settings or (2) use separate routers paired with your Internet connection. If you choose to set up a guest network, ensure the password for the guest network is strong and, if available, ensure that access to local network resources is turned off, this may also be called “isolate”.

Thanks for your follow up. I do have the option to setup a guest network but since my GE oven is off the grid there’s no need.

 

[Popeye]

Really appreciate the insight, svtmikey, thank you! I’ll put the oven on a separate network, as I appreciate the functionality. My drier… well it’s not connected

 

[Hamish Racing]

or ... your household stuff is listening to you and "sharing" what it learns.

View attachment 83506

Someone has to remind me who / what this cartoon is of. I seem to have known this in my youth but can’t just name it.

 

[Gliderman8]

Someone has to remind me who / what this cartoon is of. I seem to have known this in my youth but can’t just name it.

It’s from Mad Magazine, and the cartoon figure is “Spy vs Spy”.
If you didn’t get Mad Magazine in jolly old England, you missed out on a good one!
By the way, good luck on the USA vs England game on Friday.
Here’s the deal…. If the USA wins then the game is officially called Soccer

 

[gonzo]

Our New GE "Elite" Dishwasher doesn't do anything special except for the job at hand, it signals a "beep" and displays a "complete" when finished. Simple.

 

[waltesefalcon]

This discussion has only made me more confident that my ludditic ways are correct and that spurning all smart appliances is the best course of action.

 

[Gliderman8]

This discussion has only made me more confident that my ludditic ways are correct and that spurning all smart appliances is the best course of action.

Resistance is futile….

 

[Hamish Racing]

It’s from Mad Magazine, and the cartoon figure is “Spy vs Spy”.
If you didn’t get Mad Magazine in jolly old England, you missed out on a good one!
By the way, good luck on the USA vs England game on Friday.
Here’s the deal…. If the USA wins then the game is officially called Soccer

Of course thank you for the reminder. We did get MAD magazine.
If you win the World Cup you can have and keep the bl@@dy game and call it whatever you like !!
No not a fan as you may gather !!!

 

[DrEntropy]

Been using an isolation scheme for decades now. No new, added IoT devices are tied in to the same Class-C LAN as the computers. The providers' routers are set up as simple "bridge" devices, WiFi disabled. A physical firewall machine running a Linux kernel serves as gatekeeper, the LAN behind it with a WiFi router not broadcasting the obscure SSID, and the password or "key" is alpha-numeric soup. Another IoT dedicated WiFi router gets a separate 223.xxx.xxx.xxx addy with SSID broadcast off as well.

I'm learning to hate the different "setup menus" on IoT stuff. Drilling down through those to get to actual LAN assignment info is a PITA.

 

[Gliderman8]

I'm learning to hate the different "setup menus" on IoT stuff. Drilling down through those to get to actual LAN assignment info is a PITA.

Oh yeah you are more than right! I experienced the pain when setting up my oven for the first time.

 

[Gliderman8]

If you win the World Cup you can have and keep the bl@@dy game and call it whatever you like !!
No not a fan as you may gather !!!

Ok, got it. As you can tell I’m a big fan. My friends call me a son of the pitch
I think the game will be safely in the UK’s hands…,errrr feet.

 

[NutmegCT]

Been using an isolation scheme for decades now. No new, added IoT devices are tied in to the same Class-C LAN as the computers. The providers' routers are set up as simple "bridge" devices, WiFi disabled. A physical firewall machine running a Linux kernel serves as gatekeeper, the LAN behind it with a WiFi router not broadcasting the obscure SSID, and the password or "key" is alpha-numeric soup. Another IoT dedicated WiFi router gets a separate 223.xxx.xxx.xxx addy with SSID broadcast off as well.

I'm learning to hate the different "setup menus" on IoT stuff. Drilling down through those to get to actual LAN assignment info is a PITA.

My feelings exactly. What saddens me, is the millions of people who either (1) are overwhelmed and don't know what to do, and/or (2) struggle with setups, having no understanding of the terms ISP, SSID, two level security schemes, routers, LANs, segmentation, ZTNA, SDP, sandboxing, etc. The appliance may have "easy setup!", but that's likely to mean "hardly any security at all".

Harumph.