New tech is great, but sometimes it doesn’t get pointed in the right direction.  What about the Internet of Things?  Is this an exciting advance, a dangerous pit,  or the same old stuff repackaged?

The creativity unleashed by the ability to network devices never before networked is exhilarating.  Should we do this?  Yes!  Unfortunately, the current state of Security for these devices tends to be poor.

• Household appliances – The bad guy gets to control your furnace.  Some fixes are available, but who thinks to check for furnace firmware updates?  Spamming refrigerators, anyone?
• Cars – What if someone could break into your car and install malware that would mess with the climate control, the windshield wipers, the radio, and even the steering wheel?  They can, but how likely is it you won’t notice a laptop wired into your OBDII port?  On the other hand, what if someone could override your climate control system, your radio station choice and volume, activate your wipers, deactivate your transmission, or deactivate your brakes?  What if they could do all that, and more, wirelessly from anywhere in the country?  In other words, the 2015 state-of-the-art.  On the plus side, auto manufacturers have started working together against threats.
• Medical Devices – We’ve never had to think about hackable pacemakers and hackable wireless insulin pumps before.
• Industrial Equipment – Rogue blast furnace, anyone?
• Air Traffic Control Systems – We’d better fix hackable ATC systems now, not after a disaster.

The point is not that we should run for cover, switching back to mimeographs, Franklin Stoves, buggies, and home smelting.  Given that smart cars, smart roads, and smart Medical Devices could save lives, we need to move forward.  We do need legislators to set basic requirements for security and updates.  Right now, it’s mostly funny stories, but we’re going to have to start caring soon.  In about 5 years we’ll have gone from today’s 2% of Internet enabled devices to 75 billion connected devices.