There are concerns that connected devices could be vulnerable to hackers.
In 2016, IoT security business ForeScout Technologies released a report in which it looked at seven common IoT devices, including smart fridges, connected printers and IP-connected security systems.
Alarmingly, ForeScout said that the devices could be “hacked in as little as three minutes, but can take days or weeks to remediate.” ForeScout said that IoT hacks could result in the microphones and cameras of devices being hijacked to spy on their users as well as the destruction of critical equipment.
Only last week, researchers from Belgian university KU Leuven said that a security flaw in protected Wi-Fi networks could be exploited, allowing hackers to steal sensitive information including credit card numbers and passwords.
In L.P. Hartley’s 1953 novel The Go Between we’re told that: “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” As technology drives change and transforms our lives in ways we can sometimes barely comprehend, the future may as well be another planet.
