The security threat Stephen King warned us about?

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.csoonline.com/article/696293/the-security-threat-stephen-king-warned-us-about-

By Taylor Armerding
CSO
December 12, 2011

Most people know that their computers and smart phones are under the 
constant threat of attack from hackers. But your car? Your house? Your 
TV and other consumer electronics?

It seems like a take on Stephen King's short story "Trucks" -- where 
machines come to life and go on a murderous rampage (the movie version 
was "Maximum Overdrive"). In this case, hackers find security flaws in 
the computers running our vehicles, appliances and medical devices and 
wreak havoc.

The real threat is far less dramatic, of course. But just a couple years 
ago, few people were seriously talking about this as a danger that might 
someday come to pass. As we look to 2012, however, the potential seems a 
lot less ridiculous, since our electronics increasingly tend to be part 
of a home network with an IP address -- one that can be controlled by a 
mobile device.

Some experts in information security believe 2012 will be a year when 
hackers focus more on those things.

Anup Ghosh, CEO of Invincea, says that, "in the search for more 
interesting devices to hack, the adversary is going to transition from 
traditional IT networks to embedded systems, which we normally think of 
as physical systems -- your car, TVs, your house, your office building. 
Systems that are networked and run a lot of software will be fertile 
ground for hackers."

[...]


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