Security Firm Predicts "Murder By Internet-Connected Devices"

Curseyoukhan writes "Infosec vendor IID (Internet Identity) probably hopes that by the time 2014 rolls around no one will remember the prediction it just made. That is the year it says we will see the first murder via internet connected device. The ability to do this has been around for quite some time but the company won't say why it hasn't happened yet. Probably because that would have screwed up their fear marketing. CIO blogger challenges them to a $10K bet over their claim."

Re:So we are to believe

[Mr. Freeman]

You should keep in mind that a lot of those are already possible. Lots of medical equipment runs on windows despite the EULA saying "don't use this for life-saving devices". A few years ago a few researchers demonstrated that it was possible to access a car with wifi, disable the brakes, and engage the accelerator.

The idiot engineers that design these things don't bother implementing 1-way data transfer (e.g. allow car to report engine statistics but don't allow reprogramming remotely), encryption, or any security measures at all. They rely entirely on obscurity to prevent these devices being used maliciously.

Until someone dies, it's not a problem. When someone does die, they have enough lawyers to prevent the family that just lost someone from suing them.