IoT. A term unheard of before the 21st century but one that is becoming an ever-increasing part of daily life. The Internet of Things consists of all devices which communicate through the internet. This includes smartphones and watches, bluetooth speakers and headphones, fitness trackers, light bulbs, home security systems (see previous post here), self-driving cars, street lights (see next post here), and the list goes on. There are advantages in industry of using smart sensors such as that being placed in concrete for monitoring its “strength, temperature, and relative humidity.” Amazon and other companies also now sell smart outlets with which you can control turning on and off anything plugged into the outlet remotely or by voice control. As of 2020, the total number of IoT devices is estimated to be over 20 billion. Smart devices are convenient and some would say revolutionary, but are they safe?
The simple fact is that anything connected to the internet has a potential to be hacked and this raises security concerns about IoT devices. Many have discussed the privacy invasion of smart assistants like Siri and Alexa recording audio, but there is more dangerous potential. For example, if a smart lock is hacked, that person can then freely access someone’s entire home without their knowing. If a smart oven is hacked, there is potential to set fire to someone’s home and cause thousand of dollars in damage.
This isn’t meant to scare you or make you paranoid about the internet and using smart devices, but it is a word of caution to our increasing reliance on technology and understanding what we are giving up in terms of privacy and security.
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”- Marie Curie
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Book recommendation: The President is Missing
{An excellent, chilling thriller written as a “what if?” scenario of the United State’s cyberspace being hacked – essentially an attack on the internet itself, sending the country into the “Dark Ages.” It’s got it all: edge-of-your-seat action, suspense, wit, humor, betrayal, twists and turns, and one of my personal favorite characters: a pregnant assassin who listens to Mozart. }
-Related interesting reads-
2016 Mirai botnet malware: https://www.corero.com/resource-hub/mirai-botnet-ddos-attack/
Potential for IoT attack to take down a power grid: https://www.wired.com/story/water-heaters-power-grid-hack-blackout/
Unwind_My_Mind 