alt Hacker NewsThe shared hardcoded credentials pattern isn't just an IoT problem. I work in AWS security and see the same thing constantly. Teams hardcode a single set of AWS access keys into their application, share them across every environment, and hope nobody runs strings on the binary. Same logic, same laziness, same outcome.
The difference is when it's a sleep mask, someone reads your brainwaves. When it's a cloud credential, someone reads your customer database. Per-device or per-environment credential provisioning isn't even hard anymore. AWS has IAM roles, IoT has device certificates, MQTT has client certs and topic ACLs. The tooling exists. Companies skip it because key management adds a step to the assembly line and nobody budgets time for security architecture on v1.
> nobody budgets time for security architecture on v1
It’s quite literally why the internet is so insecure, because at many points all along the way, “hey, should we design and architect for security?” is/was met with “no, we have people to impress and careers to advance with parlor tricks to secure more funding; besides, security is hard and we don’t actually know what we are doing, so tow the line or you’ll be removed.”