The inspiration for this blog came from the fact that we need a new car in the very near future.  At the moment we have an older car without all the fancy tricks like backup cameras, those annoying beeps when you’re too close to another vehicle, and Wi-Fi and usb capabilities (we only have a CD player and radio! Gasp!).  So, while browsing for a new vehicle, it has become very apparent that you can’t get “standard” features any more – like a physical key to get in and out of the car, or even to start it.  You can’t get a car that doesn’t have all the annoying beeping, cameras, and computers that run every little thing from your brakes to your radio.  What does this mean to me, an IT security person?  Danger.  Lots of it. 

It is estimated that by the year 2022 there will be 28.5 billion IoT (Internet of Things) devices connected to the internet.  These range from cars, to refrigerators, kids’ toys, to phones and computers.  28.5 billion ways for a hacker to ruin your life.  I know you’re asking yourself, “how can my kids’ teddy bear ruin my life?”.  As soon as you connect to the internet you become vulnerable.  Your kids’ fun toy may have a chip in it that makes it dance, sing, or even interact with your child.  Most companies don’t think about security when they make these items, they want to pump out product as cheaply and quickly as possible and rake in the Benjamins.  So, you bring home this toy, set it up on your Wi-Fi and your child is pleased as punch!  After a while you start to notice that your internet is getting slow, or you’re receiving more spam than usual, or in a more severe case your door locks (that you smartly bought so that you can operate them from your phone) start to lock and unlock on their own.  Or your lights flicker at all times of the night.  This could be attributed to some faulty wiring, or some other perfectly reasonable explanation.  But think about this, it could be some hacker just messing around to see what he/she can get away with.  It’s remarkably easy.  Most homeowners don’t even change the default password on the router that gets them to the internet, let alone set up any sort of security when it comes to their own IoT devices.

These are just a few examples of IoT.  Next blog I’m going to get into health issues, transportation issues, and other things that will affect the entire population.