--- title: Activism and IoT description: Political cyber attacks have significantly increased in the past few years. Hackers often boast about their abilities to take down large and highly secure companies, but now organisations in politics can offer more significant impact and kudos. image: https://reflare.com/hubfs/Blog%20image%20in%20post/Activism%20and%20IoT.png --- [![Reflare home](https://reflare.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Reflare%20website%20images/Reflare%20Logos/reflare%20logo.png?width=421&height=150&name=reflare%20logo.png "Reflare home")](https://reflare.com) [![logo](https://reflare.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Reflare%20website%20images/Reflare%20Logos/logo.png?width=262&height=82&name=logo.png "logo")](https://reflare.com/act3) [![reflare logo](https://reflare.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Reflare%20website%20images/Reflare%20Logos/reflare%20logo.png?width=168&height=60&name=reflare%20logo.png "reflare logo")](https://reflare.com/act3) - [Galena](https://reflare.com/galena) - [Galena Overview](https://reflare.com/galena) - [Galena for Tech Teams](https://reflare.com/technical-teams) - [Galena for L&D Teams](https://reflare.com/learning-development) - [Galena Security and Deployment](https://reflare.com/security-deployment) - Training - [Capture the Flag](https://reflare.com/rctf-reflare-capture-the-flag) - [Developers](https://reflare.com/rcsd) - [Administrators](https://reflare.com/rcsa) - [PCI DSS](https://reflare.com/rcsd) - Audit - [PCI DSS](https://reflare.com/pcidss) - [PCI 3DS](https://reflare.com/pci3ds) - [PCI PIN](https://reflare.com/pcipin) - [PCI DSS ASV](https://reflare.com/pcidssasv) - [Penetration Testing](https://reflare.com/penetration) - [Vulnerability Scanning](https://reflare.com/vulnerability) - [Advisory and Management](https://reflare.com/advisory) - [Research](https://reflare.com/research) - [Anatomy of a Breach](https://reflare.com/research/tag/anatomy-of-a-breach) - [High Tech](https://reflare.com/research/tag/high-tech) - [Infosec Culture](https://reflare.com/research/tag/infosec-culture) - [Infrastructure](https://reflare.com/research/tag/infrastructure) - [Normal People and Infosec](https://reflare.com/research/tag/normal-people-and-infosec) - [WTFWIB](https://whythefuckwasibreached.com/) - [About](https://reflare.com/about) - [Contact](https://reflare.com/contact) - [Company](https://reflare.com/about) - [Careers](https://reflare.com/careers) - [Service Status](https://statuspage.reflare.com/) - [日本語](https://jp.reflare.com/) [Login](https://reflare.com/login) [Buy Now](https://www.hubspot.com/) [Login](https://www.hubspot.com/)Login to your Reflare account - [Galena](https://reflare.com/galena) - [Galena Overview](https://reflare.com/galena) - [Galena for Tech Teams](https://reflare.com/technical-teams) - [Galena for L&D Teams](https://reflare.com/learning-development) - [Galena Security and Deployment](https://reflare.com/security-deployment) - Training - [Capture the Flag](https://reflare.com/rctf-reflare-capture-the-flag) - [Developers](https://reflare.com/rcsd) - [Administrators](https://reflare.com/rcsa) - [PCI DSS](https://reflare.com/rcsd) - Audit - [PCI DSS](https://reflare.com/pcidss) - [PCI 3DS](https://reflare.com/pci3ds) - [PCI PIN](https://reflare.com/pcipin) - [PCI DSS ASV](https://reflare.com/pcidssasv) - [Penetration Testing](https://reflare.com/penetration) - [Vulnerability Scanning](https://reflare.com/vulnerability) - [Advisory and Management](https://reflare.com/advisory) - [Research](https://reflare.com/research) - [Anatomy of a Breach](https://reflare.com/research/tag/anatomy-of-a-breach) - [High Tech](https://reflare.com/research/tag/high-tech) - [Infosec Culture](https://reflare.com/research/tag/infosec-culture) - [Infrastructure](https://reflare.com/research/tag/infrastructure) - [Normal People and Infosec](https://reflare.com/research/tag/normal-people-and-infosec) - [WTFWIB](https://whythefuckwasibreached.com/) - [About](https://reflare.com/about) - [Contact](https://reflare.com/contact) - [Company](https://reflare.com/about) - [Careers](https://reflare.com/careers) - [Service Status](https://statuspage.reflare.com/) - [日本語](https://jp.reflare.com/) [Buy Now](https://www.hubspot.com/) Research #### Share this [Share on Twitter](https://twitter.com/share?url=https://reflare.com/research/activism-and-iot&text=Activism%20and%20IoT) [Share on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://reflare.com/research/activism-and-iot&t=Activism%20and%20IoT) [Share on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://reflare.com/research/activism-and-iot&t=Activism%20and%20IoT) # Activism and IoT by [**Reflare Research Team**](https://reflare.com/research/author/reflare-research-team) on Feb 17, 2016 9:27:00 AM Political cyber attacks have significantly increased in the past few years. Hackers often boast about their abilities to take down large and highly secure companies, but now organisations in politics can offer more significant impact and kudos. First Published 17th February 2016 ![Activism and IoT](https://reflare.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog%20image%20in%20post/Activism%20and%20IoT.png?width=672&height=448&name=Activism%20and%20IoT.png) *Turkey's General Directorate of Security gets a visit.* 3 min read  |  Reflare Research Team This week was a busy week for hacktivists as well as IoT data breaches. Once again, hackers have shown interest in political gain by hacking large organisations such as healthcare, government facilities and postal services. The hacking organisation Anonymous recently hacked Turkey's General Directorate of Security (EGM) due to what Anonymous claims as various waves of abuse from the government. They then released 2.8GB of compressed data that contains information on the government's infrastructure. This is just another example of hackers using attacks to gain political awareness for their causes. No significant backlash is expected to happen, but the published data was used to bring to light political events between Turkey and its anti-terrorist activity. At the same time, Hollywood Presbyterian Memorial Medical Center has been forced back into pen and paper transactions. The hospital released a statement to say that they are working with the FBI and LAPD on an investigation into a recent attempt to hold the hospital's data hostage. Recent reports show that the hospital could be a part of a ransomware attack, which means that attackers encrypt its data and require thousands of dollars for the decryption key. In an organisation with millions of health records, it could set a precedent for ransomware attacks. Ransom attacks are common on individual machines, but this is one of the first attacks that threaten an entire organisation enough to force them to stop using their computer systems. IoT technology continues to show its limitations in security. Samsung recently sent a press release that highlighted how their voice systems work for Smart TVs. Any voice communication within the TV's area is captured and sent to cloud servers. This means that private conversations are sent to Samsung and processed from voice to text. Samsung collects this data to determine if they need to improve their devices. Unfortunately, this means that any personal conversations are also recorded among voice commands. Should law enforcement subpoena Samsung, these conversations would no longer be private. The official recommendation by Samsung is to not have private conversations in rooms with a Smart TV which is not a practical mitigation for end users. Samsung is yet another IoT device that was shown to have severe security flaws, mainly in the area of privacy. Until engineers for these devices begin thinking like hackers, the hacking community will continue to find critical flaws in the systems. Topics: [Infosec Culture](https://reflare.com/research/tag/infosec-culture) #### Share this [Share on Twitter](https://twitter.com/share?url=https://reflare.com/research/activism-and-iot&text=Activism%20and%20IoT) [Share on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://reflare.com/research/activism-and-iot&t=Activism%20and%20IoT) [Share on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://reflare.com/research/activism-and-iot&t=Activism%20and%20IoT) - Recent - Topics - Archive Recent Topics - [Infosec Culture (113)](https://reflare.com/research/tag/infosec-culture) - [Anatomy of a Breach (60)](https://reflare.com/research/tag/anatomy-of-a-breach) - [Normal People and Infosec (42)](https://reflare.com/research/tag/normal-people-and-infosec) - [High Tech (31)](https://reflare.com/research/tag/high-tech) - [Infrastructure (21)](https://reflare.com/research/tag/infrastructure) - [Capture the Flag (8)](https://reflare.com/research/tag/capture-the-flag) See all Archive - [June 2026 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2026/06) - [May 2026 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2026/05) - [April 2026 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2026/04) - [March 2026 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2026/03) - [February 2026 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2026/02) - [January 2026 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2026/01) - [December 2025 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2025/12) - [November 2025 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2025/11) - [October 2025 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2025/10) - [September 2025 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2025/09) - [August 2025 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2025/08) - [July 2025 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2025/07) - [June 2025 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2025/06) - [May 2025 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2025/05) - [April 2025 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2025/04) - [March 2025 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2025/03) - [February 2025 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2025/02) - [January 2025 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2025/01) - [December 2024 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2024/12) - [November 2024 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2024/11) - [October 2024 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2024/10) - [September 2024 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2024/09) - [August 2024 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2024/08) - [July 2024 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2024/07) - [June 2024 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2024/06) - [April 2024 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2024/04) - [February 2024 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2024/02) - [January 2024 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2024/01) - [December 2023 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2023/12) - [November 2023 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2023/11) - [October 2023 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2023/10) - [September 2023 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2023/09) - [August 2023 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2023/08) - [July 2023 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2023/07) - [June 2023 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2023/06) - [May 2023 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2023/05) - [April 2023 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2023/04) - [March 2023 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2023/03) - [February 2023 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2023/02) - [January 2023 (5)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2023/01) - [December 2022 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2022/12) - [November 2022 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2022/11) - [October 2022 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2022/10) - [September 2022 (11)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2022/09) - [August 2022 (5)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2022/08) - [July 2022 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2022/07) - [May 2022 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2022/05) - [April 2022 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2022/04) - [February 2022 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2022/02) - [January 2022 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2022/01) - [December 2021 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2021/12) - [November 2021 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2021/11) - [October 2021 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2021/10) - [September 2021 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2021/09) - [August 2021 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2021/08) - [June 2021 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2021/06) - [May 2021 (14)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2021/05) - [February 2021 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2021/02) - [October 2020 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2020/10) - [September 2020 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2020/09) - [July 2020 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2020/07) - [June 2020 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2020/06) - [May 2020 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2020/05) - [April 2020 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2020/04) - [March 2020 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2020/03) - [February 2020 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2020/02) - [January 2020 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2020/01) - [December 2019 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2019/12) - [November 2019 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2019/11) - [October 2019 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2019/10) - [September 2019 (5)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2019/09) - [August 2019 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2019/08) - [July 2019 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2019/07) - [June 2019 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2019/06) - [May 2019 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2019/05) - [April 2019 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2019/04) - [March 2019 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2019/03) - [February 2019 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2019/02) - [January 2019 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2019/01) - [December 2018 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2018/12) - [November 2018 (5)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2018/11) - [October 2018 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2018/10) - [September 2018 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2018/09) - [August 2018 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2018/08) - [July 2018 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2018/07) - [June 2018 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2018/06) - [May 2018 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2018/05) - [April 2018 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2018/04) - [March 2018 (5)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2018/03) - [February 2018 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2018/02) - [January 2018 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2018/01) - [December 2017 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2017/12) - [November 2017 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2017/11) - [October 2017 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2017/10) - [September 2017 (5)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2017/09) - [August 2017 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2017/08) - [July 2017 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2017/07) - [June 2017 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2017/06) - [May 2017 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2017/05) - [April 2017 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2017/04) - [March 2017 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2017/03) - [February 2017 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2017/02) - [January 2017 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2017/01) - [December 2016 (1)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2016/12) - [November 2016 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2016/11) - [October 2016 (2)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2016/10) - [September 2016 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2016/09) - [August 2016 (5)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2016/08) - [July 2016 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2016/07) - [June 2016 (5)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2016/06) - [May 2016 (3)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2016/05) - [April 2016 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2016/04) - [March 2016 (5)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2016/03) - [February 2016 (4)](https://reflare.com/research/archive/2016/02) See all ### Subscribe by email #### About Reflare We help customers increase cyber resilience with the #1 hands-on IT security training platform. Our developer, administrator, and non-technical user training programs enhance user skills, fulfil your compliance needs, and contribute to developing more secure technologies. Legal - [Terms of Service](https://reflare.com/terms) - [Privacy Statement](https://reflare.com/privacy) - [Cookie Info](https://reflare.com/cookies) - [Copyright and Citation Enquiries](https://reflare.com/citation) - [Contact](https://reflare.com/contact) © 2026 Reflare Ltd, and/or its affiliates.   /   In business since 2009. ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Reflare Research Team", "url" : "https://reflare.com/research/author/reflare-research-team" }, "dateModified" : "2023-11-21T14:25:11.373Z", "datePublished" : "2016-02-17T09:27:00.000Z", "headline" : "Activism and IoT", "image" : [ "https://reflare.com/hubfs/Blog%20image%20in%20post/Activism%20and%20IoT.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://reflare.com/research/activism-and-iot", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://reflare.com/hubfs/Reflare%20website%20images/Reflare%20Logos/logo.png" }, "name" : "Reflare" } } ```