Slashdot Mirror


Security Experts Believe the Internet of Things Will Be Used To Kill Someone

dcblogs writes: Imagine a fleet of quad copters or drones equipped with explosives and controlled by terrorists. Or someone who hacks into a connected insulin pump and changes the settings in a lethal way. Or maybe the hacker who accesses a building's furnace and thermostat controls and runs the furnace full bore until a fire is started. Those may all sound like plot material for a James Bond movie, but there are security experts who now believe, as does Jeff Williams, CTO of Contrast Security, that "the Internet of Things will kill someone". Today, there is a new "rush to connect things" and "it is leading to very sloppy engineering from a security perspective," said Williams. Similarly, Rashmi Knowles, chief security architect at RSA, imagines criminals hacking into medical devices, recently blogged about hackers using pacemakers to blackmail users, and asked: "Question is, when is the first murder?"

8 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. Already been done by spire3661 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This event has already occurred, it just wasnt called Internet of Things. IN short, this is pure click-bait.

    --
    Good-bye
    1. Re:Already been done by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Indeed. Every single bit of technology ever devised has been used to kill people. It's what we do.

      Unless you're writing cheesy made-for-TV movies, nothing to see here. Move along.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:Already been done by lgw · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Indeed. Every single bit of technology ever devised has been used to kill people. It's what we do.

      False. New technologies are divided between "invented to kill people" and "porn". With a few like the internet being dual-purpose.

      Or, as the saying goes "there are two kinds of engineers: those who build weapons, and those who build targets".

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  2. If they believe this to be a future event ... by Ihlosi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... they should return their "security expert" certification.

    1. Re:If they believe this to be a future event ... by piripiri · · Score: 4, Insightful

      CTO of security firm warns about insecurity... News at 11.

  3. Ummm ... Duh? by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Given how lazy and incompetent most device makers are about security, as soon as you have a bunch of marketing guys going "yarg, teh interweb of things" you just know there's going to be terrible outcomes.

    They're not interested in designing something which is good, or safe, or well engineered. They're interested in being first to market, and what to put on the power point slides. Which means they'll take shortcuts, or ignore security entirely.

    So, I'm sorry, but I'm betting a chunk of people on Slashdot have been saying this would happen for years -- I know I have, and I've seen lots of other people say so.

    I have always thought the IoT was both a stupid idea, and one which would eventually kill someone.

    No way in hell I'd give my fridge or my toaster access to my network, because I don't see any value in that.

    This is the pipe dream of marketing people, and futurists who claim this will somehow improve our lives. But without a lot more proof these companies know what they're doing, you can't trust them.

    Hell, the people who make things which are supposed to be connected to the interweb can't get security right. The people who make your fridge? Not bloody likely.

    Don't want your smart TV, don't want your smart toaster.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  4. RSA would know about sloppy security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They did accept a $10 million bribe from the NSA to gimp their own security.

  5. Ummm ... Duh? by nbauman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No way in hell I'd give my fridge or my toaster access to my network, because I don't see any value in that.

    You don't see any value in perfect toast?