Humans are the weakest link

[pbray]

Put traffic light controls on the internet so anyone can shut down the system at any time? How about locking someone in an automated car wash? Or shutting down a hyrdoelectric plant? CNN's followup report on the Shodan search engine gives us more examples of unsecured devices attached to the internet.

These are examples of failure of imagination, and a lack of understanding of how technology works. For the hydroelectric plant, the physical control room is almost certainly a locked room, that requires a badge and/or key access. But the web access was open to anyone who could figure out the IP address.

If I were writing a technothriller, I'd be accused of lazy plotting if I used one of these as a plot device. But in real life, this happens all the time.

Comments

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I don't want to look, because it'll make my head explode.

Of course, we could have seen this coming when regular ol' video games are now being configured to access the internet or they don't work. Not online games, but offline games.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

If there's a ray of light here, it's how seldom these loopholes are being exploited, which can be taken as evidence that the vast majority of people on the internet are benevolent, or at least neutral.