Re:The Mirai Botnet Is Proof the Security Industry Is Broken
by rfrank on Tuesday November 01, 2016 @04:41PM
(#12849835)
Counterfeit component risk and bad security for an assembled IoT device are two separate issues. Sourcing components on Amazon in the first place is ludicrous to me, to be honest, and I'd be shocked if any reputable EMS companies do it. As an aside, a couple years ago I saw some guys from NXP do a talk on component counterfeiting. People will apparently remove them from dead boards, shave a few microns of material off the top of their legitimate capacitors, change their reported value, and resell them. Pretty nuts.
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Re:The Mirai Botnet Is Proof the Security Industry Is Broken
by st3v3r on Tuesday November 01, 2016 @07:52PM
(#12851198)
"Sourcing components on Amazon in the first place is ludicrous to me, to be honest"
I'm a hobbyist, I have Amazon Prime, and I would like to use components in a project. What's ludicrous about that?
Re:The Mirai Botnet Is Proof the Security Industry Is Broken
by rfrank on Tuesday November 01, 2016 @08:34PM
(#12851389)
The "reputable EMS companies" part was an important qualifier. But, as the guy I originally replied to demonstrates, counterfeit risk is a lot higher. I order parts for my projects from Digi-Key.
Re:The Mirai Botnet Is Proof the Security Industry Is Broken
by pjc50 on Wednesday November 02, 2016 @09:39AM
(#12854525)
It's fine as a hobbyist, but once you're making 1000+ then the only way Amazon (which doesn't do volume pricing I think?) can be cheaper is by selling you fakes.
As a hobbyist I buy stuff from ebay, amazon, and aliexpress all the time, but not for anything mains-powered or safety-critical.