Some stunning things have happened in the past year. Cars were remotely hacked and run off the road. Thieves digitally stole cars in volume, at night, and loaded them onto container ships before owners woke in the morning—with the high-end cars stolen through security mistakes in keyless entry and keyless start systems. Hospital IV drug pumps were wirelessly hacked for lethal dosing. Other hospitals were infected by malware through surprisingly vulnerable MRI machines and X-ray machines. Malware infections even forced the temporary shutdown of some hospitals. Cyber attacks damaged things as substantial as the blast furnace of a steel mill. Dozens of U.S. critical infrastructure sites were infected to their roots. and an oil pipeline was hacked, yielding a 3 kiloton pipeline explosion. The Ukrainian power grid crashed after a cyber intrusion.
We bet our lives on countless smart technologies every day. Our cars, hospitals, traffic lights, and aircraft are the most obvious examples of increasingly connected systems, constantly optimized through remote management. Imagine the world’s population tripling again without software driven and Internet-connected “zero-emission vehicles.” Smart, connected technologies are helping bring about medical miracles and save lives. Do we depend any less on the power grid, manufacturing, and water treatment plants? These systems deserve security.
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