Automation - The story of a Hacker attacking you with your refrigerator

“New... powerful... hooked into everything, trusted to run it all. They say it got smart, a new order of intelligence.”

While this quote and its context are a bit more morbid than my feelings on this topic, those words Kyle Reese uttered are the first that come to mind whenever I hear about the succinctly named “Internet of Things.”  If the term is unfamiliar, and you haven’t caught the Cisco commercial that illuminates the possibilities, the core idea is to take anything you can possibly think of—any device, any tool, any bit of electronics—and make it “smart.”  Create a network of physical devices connected via new technology. 


Throw a sensor on your refrigerator, and you can take inventory at work, and see if you need to make a stop on the way home; better yet, have the fridge order the items itself.  For sports enthusiasts, sensors in the shoes of basketball players or the ball itself could provide data and analysis in numerous areas, such as breaking down plays, or measuring the arc of a shot (although this fan happens to believe the recent implementation of SportsVU by the NBA already provides more than enough statistics).  Or, using an IoT-functional thermostat, you can adjust the temperature remotely to be at your exact preference upon your return.  Some of these scenarios, like the basketball and thermostat, are already reality; other possibilities tease and beckon the imagination from the horizon.

Interest in the IoT space has exploded since the Consumer Electronics Show in January in Las Vegas.  In February, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, John Chambers said he believes the Internet of Things will create $19 trillion in “economic benefit and value” in the next decade.  Edith Ramirez, Chairwoman of the FTC, believes that 50 billion “things” will be connected to the Internet by 2020.  Even preceding CES, this has been a hot topic: last year, Google, which has made moves that have quickly pushed the company to the front lines of this nascent industry, acquired 8 robotics companies, including omnidirectional wheel expert Holomni and T-800-esque robot manufacturer Boston Dynamics. 

Since the expo, however, it seems the wheels on the automated car have begun to spin even faster.  And Google is not the only one to make moves—although their further acquisitions of smart home device manufacturer Nest ($3.2 billion; among their products are the aforementioned thermostats) and British artificial intelligence companyDeepMind (reportedly over $500 million) were the most publicized.  Microsoft’s Embedded team—long associated with developing for the enterprise side of the space—recently had its focus broadened to the consumer side, signaling a growing interest from the company in conquering the home (a natural outgrowth of their attempt to do so on a smaller scale, the living room, via their Xbox One). 

All these innovations and initiatives may very well become as omnipresent as industry figures believe, and just as soon.  Despite the potential benefits, there are still other concerns and risks that companies who adopt early IoT tech will have to confront.  After all, if everything is connected to the Internet, if data is being shared among more devices than ever before in an unprecedentedly open flow of information, you have yourself an exponentially large cyber security threat.  Already last year, Russian authorities claimed they had discovered “20 to 30 pieces of Chinese home appliance 'spy' microchips” that “sends some data to the foreign server” on a number of household appliances imported from China.  Even Google itself, one of the foremost players in IoT thus far, had the online-connected control system of one of its Australian offices hacked by researchers.

These risks cannot be understated or ignored.  A water cooler or a vending machine in the office infested with Wi-Fi access or hidden malware is a danger unlike any companies have experienced before.  Organizations are going to need to be prepared.  The manufacturers of these online devices, first of all, who will have to place a higher priority on security and proper training for their engineers.  But the responsibilities don’t end there, as all companies who integrate IoT into the workplace should think of new ways to approach security for their newly applied technology.  As emphasized in a Harvard Business Review blog post by Christopher J. Rezendes, President of INEX Advisors, an IoT-specialized consultancy, and David Stephenson, author of SmartStuff, “Succeeding in the IoT era will depend on defining and deploying not only the right cyber security technologies, but also the right policies and operations.”

Security standards will be paramount for this exponentially rapid push towards a (near?) future of smart devices connected across the globe.  It’s exciting to observe, but when the dust settles, I do hope our technologically revolutionized world is more Ghost in the Shell, less Skynet.