We appear to be on the path to a smarter world. A world where intelligent buildings within smart cities, linked by highly connected network infrastructure. This world promises unprecedented efficiency, automation and control over our urban environment but is also fraught with risk. A team of researchers recently highlighted this fact by hacking two of the leading building networks with relative ease. Yong Yang, HuiYu Wu and YuXiang Li of the Tencent Blade Team first focused their attention on KNX, an established network communications protocol for building automation that has become popular in large public buildings such as stadiums, hotels, airports and industrial facilities. They devised an innovative new attack method to seize control of KNX network components and once they gained access, they tested their ability to tamper with occupant facing elements. They chose the KNX network of a Marriott hotel to validate the attack, and once they acquired access succeeded in controlling the […]