What vulnerability is particularly concerning for IoT devices due to their widespread and often unattended deployment?

Question

Options

• ACross-site scripting
• BInsecure default configurations
• CBuffer overflow attacks
• DSocial engineering

• A
  12% (2)
• B
  76% (13)
• C
  6% (1)
• D
  6% (1)

Explanation

Insecure default configurations are the primary concern for IoT devices because manufacturers ship millions of identical devices with the same default usernames, passwords, and open ports - and most users never change them, leaving a massive, easily exploitable attack surface across countless unattended devices (e.g., the Mirai botnet exploited exactly this).

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A. Cross-site scripting targets web browsers and user sessions, not the firmware/network layer where IoT vulnerabilities typically live.
• C. Buffer overflow attacks are serious but require targeted exploitation of specific software; they don't scale as easily across diverse, unattended IoT fleets.
• D. Social engineering requires human interaction - it's irrelevant when devices operate autonomously with no user to manipulate.

Memory tip: Think "IoT = Out of the Box, Out of Mind." Devices are deployed and forgotten, so vulnerabilities that exploit factory defaults (default passwords, open telnet ports, no encryption) are the ones that cause mass compromise - not attacks requiring active human targets.

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