James writes:
There, I’ve put it out there. I know, I own an IT Security company so you’re expecting me to explain the security issues associated with putting your central heating online...nope. Don’t get me wrong, I could go into the very real security issues of controlling your cooker from the office. But my question is much more simple: do we really need the Internet of Things?
Manufacturers are keen to push their new designs to us. To be cool is king and having a touch screen fridge freezer that’s on the internet certainly ticks that box for some.
Hold on, why do I need a touch screen internet-enabled fridge freezer?
-It will tell you it’s operating temperature when you’re at work. -It tells you how many times the door has been opened.
So I can find out how many times I’ve opened my own fridge freezer door from work and discover that it’s running at 3 degrees Celsius, like it has been every day since I turned it on.
-But it will tell you the temperate has risen and that maybe the compressor has failed.
That’s great, but I’m at work. What am I going to do about it? I’m still going to end up with a defrosted freezer by the time someone has come out to repair it.
A novel idea might be to save the £200 difference (currently being quoted) between an internet-enabled fridge freezer and one that isn’t and get some new food.
If my fridge could beam food straight into itself from the store, that might be different. But it can’t, that Star Trek technology doesn’t exist.
-But it’s great to have central heating online, so you can turn your heating on before you come home.
That sounds wonderful. If I didn’t have a timer I might use this.
But I do have a timer and even if I came home early within 10 minutes my house has warmed up anyway.
-But you could turn on your oven before you get home.
I don’t like several thousand watt appliances running when I’m not at home and what happens if I get held up on the way home for an hour in a jam with no internet access? Then there’s the security issues associated with all these devices being connected online. If someone finds a buffer overflow vulnerability for my Hotpoint fridge freezer, a malicious hacker could get in and defrost my roast beef! That’s just not acceptable!
At Foursys we sell Sophos next generation firewalls with IPS and reverse proxy technology that can help secure your appliances. It even supports country (IP) blocking, which might just have helped Sony.
However in the world of security, reducing your attack surface is always a good place. So do we really need to put our fridges and ovens online?
I know I’m sounding like an old man (before my time), but do you agree?
*******
For something much more practical why not speak to us about protecting your organisation against current and future security vulnerabilities? Call us on 01284 788900 for an initial chat or for a demonstration of some of the technologies we supply into corporate organisations, NHS Trusts and government organisations.
___________________________________________