K
Kathleen Martin
Guest
Shodan is like Google but more like an archive of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. While Google indexes the websites on the world wide web and the content on these websites, Shodan indexes every device directly connected to the internet.
The publicly available information available through this search engine seems innocuous enough. To the ordinary user, the strings of IP addresses and coding terms don’t mean much. But to a hacker looking for a vulnerable device, there’s more than enough to cause harm. But what if you could understand the most important data and how to use Shodan to improve your cybersecurity?
What Is Shodan Exactly?
Shodan is a cyber search engine that indexes devices connected to the internet. The search engine started as a pet project for John Matherly. Matherly wanted to learn about devices connected to the internet, from printers and web servers to particle accelerators—basically anything with an IP address.
The goal was to log device specifications and have a map showing device locations and how these are interconnected. Since 2009, when it became available to the public, Shodan’s purpose has barely changed. It still maps the exact location of internet-enabled devices, their software specifications, and locations. Indeed, Shodan has grown to become a cyber all-seeing eye.
How Do Hackers Use Shodan?
Shodan was not originally designed for hackers, but the publicly available information that the search engine collects can be useful to hackers looking for vulnerable devices.
Find IoT Devices With Security Flaws
Shodan collects IoT devices’ digital banners. A banner is like a CV that IoT devices submit to web servers when requesting data. Reading the banner is how a web server knows the specific device, and how and what data packets to send to the device. Just like the content of everyone’s CV would be different, so are the banners of different IoT devices.
Continue reading: https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-shodan/
The publicly available information available through this search engine seems innocuous enough. To the ordinary user, the strings of IP addresses and coding terms don’t mean much. But to a hacker looking for a vulnerable device, there’s more than enough to cause harm. But what if you could understand the most important data and how to use Shodan to improve your cybersecurity?
What Is Shodan Exactly?
Shodan is a cyber search engine that indexes devices connected to the internet. The search engine started as a pet project for John Matherly. Matherly wanted to learn about devices connected to the internet, from printers and web servers to particle accelerators—basically anything with an IP address.
The goal was to log device specifications and have a map showing device locations and how these are interconnected. Since 2009, when it became available to the public, Shodan’s purpose has barely changed. It still maps the exact location of internet-enabled devices, their software specifications, and locations. Indeed, Shodan has grown to become a cyber all-seeing eye.
How Do Hackers Use Shodan?
Shodan was not originally designed for hackers, but the publicly available information that the search engine collects can be useful to hackers looking for vulnerable devices.
Find IoT Devices With Security Flaws
Shodan collects IoT devices’ digital banners. A banner is like a CV that IoT devices submit to web servers when requesting data. Reading the banner is how a web server knows the specific device, and how and what data packets to send to the device. Just like the content of everyone’s CV would be different, so are the banners of different IoT devices.
Continue reading: https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-shodan/
