Article Techniek en wetenschap
The internet of things: nuclear?
Everything gets connected and have unprecedented possibilities. Don't we hear too little about the dangers?
A significant and frightening title: The Internet of Things goes nuclear. A title taken from a recent report on the state of security and technology. The report describes a new danger of a digital "worm" that could create a disruptive world if it goes through the Internet of Things. A nuclear attack new style according to the report. Or could it better be described as a virtual plague?!
The Internet of Things is in front of us. Our lamps are intelligent and connected. The fridge, TV, toilet, thermostat, cameras and so on and so forth. The Internet of Things makes our house an intelligent and proactive house / environment. The possibilities are endless. Energy savings to extremely ease. We hardly need to think more about what we do for our environment because our environment keeps track on us. What an improvement. Or not? This is another discussion. What we increasingly see and hear is the incredibly easy to hack a lot of new gadgets. With digitisation, we make our physical environment increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks. More often we hear that our society is being part of a third world war, only this one is different than the previous ones. Is this a virtual war? If so, we will publish soon about this subject.
We see that our gadgets are getting increasingly vulnerable. Do we pay enough attention to the digital security? Because if our cars, clothes and houses are increasingly ‘connected’ we thus also create a whole new world around criminality. This is nothing new and goes for every form of (technological) developments. But the question remains whether digital security and ethics are given enough attention. Our fear is that this is still insufficient. Many people in today’s society are digitally inept and unaware of the skills in today’s technology.
A recent report also brought these developments back to light. Researchers of Welzmann Institute of Science in Israel and Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia (Canada) show how you could hack the Zigbee protocol. It ensures, for example, how simple it is to hack the famous Philips connected lamps. The question is what can be hacked with lamps? But it shows how vulnerable it is. Because there are many more examples of devices that seem easy to access by people with bad intentions. One fact remains. We can now perhaps increasingly secure the latest technology. Much of the technology around us and in organisations is acing. The question is how safe is it? Or is the fact that the systems are outdated from the best protection? The truth is that human consciousness are the very essential first step in dealing consciously with the new technological possibilities and security around here. We are allowed to pay more attention.
In the video below you can see how lights are incorporated in buildings.
More information about the report: IOT goes Nuclear
UPDATE:
Philips has now come up with a software update to resolve this problem.
