The Coming IT Nightmare of Unpatchable Systems 240
snydeq (1272828) writes "Insecure by design and trusted by default, embedded systems present security concerns that could prove crippling if not addressed by fabricators, vendors, and customers alike, InfoWorld reports. Routers, smart refrigerators, in-pavement traffic-monitoring systems, or crop-monitoring drones — 'the trend toward systems and devices that, once deployed, stubbornly "keep on ticking" regardless of the wishes of those who deploy them is fast becoming an IT security nightmare made real, affecting everything from mom-and-pop shops to power stations. This unpatchable hell is a problem with many fathers, from recalcitrant vendors to customers wary of — or hostile to — change. But with the number and diversity of connected endpoints expected to skyrocket in the next decade, radical measures are fast becoming necessary to ensure that today's "smart" devices and embedded systems don't haunt us for years down the line.'"
This "nightmare" rigns a bell (Score:3)
They had the same problem prior to the year 2000, so why wasn't this lesson already learned?
Re:This "nightmare" rigns a bell (Score:5, Insightful)
The lesson wasn't learned, but the problem was somewhat mitigated. Big software companies adopted regular patch cycles and deployed patch management tools on their customers. It kinda worked because PC are powerful computers well designed to be upgraded and modified.
This is not the case for many embedded systems. They are designed to be installed and then you forget about them. So the "classic" mitigation technique doesn't work. This is a big problem.
Re:This "nightmare" rigns a bell (Score:5, Insightful)
They are designed to be installed and then you forget about them. So the "classic" mitigation technique doesn't work. This is a big problem.
Hell, I thought the "classic" mitigation schemata for embedded devices was to not have them networked at all, leaving them to run for years (decades?) on end.
(See also the hordes of NT Telecom PBXes out there which are likely still around, requiring a goofball proprietary connection to a computer running OS/2 (!?) in order to patch it (or more commonly, you did it to add new/licensed features or to fix something gone corrupt).)
Therein lies the whole problem with the paradigm, truth be told - originally, embedded devices didn't communicate with jack shit - you unpacked it, turned it on, maybe configured it, and then you forget that it existed until it broke (at which time the vendor/contractor sent someone out to fix it), or got replaced.
All that said, hell, we already have a testbed for this nightmare - an ocean of smartphones whose carriers and manufacturers ceased to give a crap whether their wares ever got upgraded.
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They are designed to be installed and then you forget about them. So the "classic" mitigation technique doesn't work. This is a big problem.
Hell, I thought the "classic" mitigation schemata for embedded devices was to not have them networked at all, leaving them to run for years (decades?) on end.
Unfortunately, the guys at Buffalo who sold me my router haven't heard of this principle. It contains a version of openssl known to be vulnerable to Heartbleed, and it has yet to be patched. Previously I figured I didn't use anything that depended on the library, but now the article came out that it potentially could be used for EAP - I have no idea if this is the case but I'd prefer not to wait and find out.
Fortunately it runs DD-WRT which means that OpenWRT is almost certainly a practical option. I'll
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its not the size - my motherboard bios can be upgraded and its tiny. The problem is that it costs effort to make them upgradeable, and companies are cheapskates.
Re:This "nightmare" rigns a bell (Score:5, Insightful)
Companies aren't "cheapskates", customers are.
Here, I'll prove my point,. You can buy something for $15 today, and have it supported until tomorrow(or whenever) or you can pay $300 for the same exact thing, only support will go for a guaranteed 10 years.
Guess what, the company didn't make the choice, you did. The company is just following the choice you've taken.
The problem is solvable. Like Cellphones, it is cheaper and easier in the long run to simply buy a new one every 2 years than it is to buy one that will last you five. And in two years, sufficient advancement means that your old cell phone won't do all the neat cool things that all the new phones want to do, and you're gonna upgrade it anyway, so buy the cheaper one now, and upgrade in two years.
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So perhaps they should be sold like that: "You can buy our Amazing zPhone 5 for $100, guaranteed to work until 2018, or our Amazing zPhone 5c for $150, guaranteed to work until 2021. We no longer sell the Ordinary zPhone 4, whose guarantee runs out in 2015, and will in fact quit working by 2016."
Right now when someone buys a cell phone, they have it in their brains that they're making an "investment", that the phone will last for the next 20 years, or even forever. They are used to products that wear out
Re:This "nightmare" rigns a bell (Score:4)
Right now when someone buys a cell phone, they have it in their brains that they're making an "investment", that the phone will last for the next 20 years, or even forever.
They do? Who are these people?
For a sufficiently true portion of "everyone," "everyone" just gets a new phone every two years on contract anyway.
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The replacement date for cell phones is upfront and written into most contracts. It is a fundamental part of cell-phone contract marketing these days. So nobody is thinking 20 years unless they are deluded, and the phone companies are definitely not promoting that at all. The 2 year upgrade cycle is transparent, and well understood between customers and vendors. So what is your point?
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Total BS. Phones should last 20 years. The old land line ones last 20+ years. The only thing in a modern phone that doesn't have a 20+ year life span is the battery and that is not through not trying.
As for the 2 years that is the time to pay off the phone in instalments, not when it is supposed to be unusable any more. Yes, phone companies would like you to get a new phone every 2 years as that locks you into them for 2 more years.
As for fixing bugs in the OS most of the time a bug that exists in one v
Re:This (Score:2)
Companies aren't "cheapskates", customers are.
Here, I'll prove my point,. You can buy something for $15 today, and have it supported until tomorrow(or whenever) or you can pay $300 for the same exact thing, only support will go for a guaranteed 10 years.
And here is a counterpoint: I was evaluating a piece of robust hardware for installation at remote sites (~$5k). The hardware has a built in micro that monitors all the functions and provides configuration, it is programmed via DIP switches and a serial port
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Beta sucks... and completely screwed the above quoting and formating....
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This is not the case for many embedded systems. They are designed to be installed and then you forget about them. So the "classic" mitigation technique doesn't work. This is a big problem.
Only because software development sucks and nobody takes the time and effort for not-so-much-fun things like code review.
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"Only because software development sucks".
The solution isn't better coding. It's been CLEAR now, for many years, that we can't just wait for the world coders to magically become amazing and consistently produce flawless code. Yes, training is part of the solution, and so are advanced debugging tools and many other things, but just blaming that it is the coder's fault won't change anything. It's not a solution, it's a blame.
It's like saying that car deaths would go down if only drivers were better.
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Unpatchable systems are a problem, but if you view them as a black box, they are no different than non-logical systems that break.
I'm rather fervently against systems that cannot be upgraded on the fly, but I understand why manufacturers might not like this.
Consider, if you buy a traffic light controller that can be improved and modified, then where is the motivation for a second round of purchases when "upgrade" becomes necssary. After all, I certainly want the person who sold me a refrigerator to be able
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I was thinking we had the same problem with work horses that got old, or with pre-OSHA workers who lost limbs in factories.
The solution is the same, but now there's no ethics to be worried about. If your system or device can no longer perform its job (including meeting security requirements), replace it. Oh, sure, there's lots of sentimental value in having something obsolete that you already own rather than paying again for something with a support life, but that's why you were able to afford the thing in
Re:This "nightmare" rigns a bell (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:This "nightmare" rigns a bell (Score:5, Insightful)
The doomsayers were right. A great deal of effort went into patching and testing all critical systems before the year ticked over. There was no disaster because systematic action to avert it was taken well in advance.
Re:This "nightmare" rigns a bell (Score:4, Insightful)
A deadline has a wonderful way of concentrating the mind. No deadline, less motivation.
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A deadline has a wonderful way of concentrating the mind. No deadline, less motivation.
This is the next big one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Honestly I wonder how many devices it will affect. I know anything which isn't patched and relies on security certificates is hosed, but what about the network printer that nobody cares about and is running completely unsecured?
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The doomsayers were right.
No they weren't. Many people updated and patched their systems. Plenty of other people did NOTHING. Neither had any significant issues. My company budgeted this much for Y2K preparations: $0. We figured we would just let the failures happen, and then deal with them after-the-fact. Here is a complete, exhaustive list of all the problems that occured on 1/1/2000:
1. A javascript bug caused the date on our homepage to say "Jan 1st, 19100". Time to fix: 30 seconds.
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The doomsayers were wrong because we patched our systems.
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Greed.
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They had the same problem prior to the year 2000, so why wasn't this lesson already learned?
No, it was a totally different problem.
Y2K was about an optimization made early in the history of software development, when every bit and byte was precious, and it was expected that the software would be replaced long before it became a problem. Well, not all of it got replaced before then - but everyone knew the problem was there, and exactly when it would bite us, so a lot of people worked hard patching system so that there were no major problems. And before you sneer at the short-sightedness of ear
Re: This "nightmare" rigns a bell (Score:3, Insightful)
There are two lessons here: one, if you make something non-upgradeable it may have a bug that requires a fix; two, if you make something upgradeable some nefarious actor could exploit that and install something bad.
Repetitive (broken) OS abandonment (Score:5, Interesting)
<RANT>
One thing that's causing problems is the habit of Apple and Microsoft to abandon operating systems for new, often incompatible ones, instead of fixing the bugs in them. OSX 10.6.8 is full of problems; the only way to fix them is to move up to OSX 10.7 or further, which in turn can break a lot of things, because the later release isn't just fixed (if, in fact, it is fixed), it's a different animal altogether. Just one example. OS vendors take the view that you can either move forward with them, or die in a fire. Windows, Ubuntu, XP, etc... same deal.
I'm not saying these old OS's should get new features. But bugs? They should be fixed as long as humanly possible. The product was sold as having feature set X, and working. If it doesn't work as advertised, or is unreliable, it shouldn't be abandoned, it should be fixed. Except in the very rare case where it is not possible (I can't even think of one of those, actually.)
The problem is multifaceted. It isn't just that users are left with a choice of being left behind and becoming steadily more vulnerable to exploits; it is also that as the OS vendors keep jumping away from their buggy versions, the OS landscape, as it were, is left lettered with broken junk, and the new stuff is going to also be broken in new ways (plus, often, the old ways too), because:
None of these OS vendors ever intends to work any product into shape such that it becomes stable, reliable, and actually what it was advertised to be when it was sold. Instead, hey, look over here, New! Shiny!
Then we have application vendors that, for no particular good reason, make their apps not just use, but depend upon new OS features. Generally speaking, you don't have to do that. You can tie a feature to an OS, and there are very good reasons to do so (the feature may not even be possible under a previous one), but then there are things that have no sane reason to be tied to an OS, such as the ability to load a new image format (Apple, I'm thinking of Aperture here.) New interface to load images through? Sure, great idea. Abandoning the old interface? Not generally a sensible thing to do. No doubt there are applications out there that use the old interface, and there will be users with (shock!) new cameras.
I find the entire cycle of abandonment to be reprehensible and ethically bankrupt. I think applications should be maintained until they aren't broken under the OS's they were designed to run under, and OS's should be maintained until they work in every way they were supposed to in the first place, and are kept as secure as possible without actually breaking things. But that's just me.
</RANT>
Re:Repetitive (broken) OS abandonment (Score:5, Informative)
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13 mod points but they don't work on this thread for some reason. Anyhow... +1!
Subscriptions are the fix (Score:3)
Microsoft doesn't want to produce a new version of Windows; they want to make money and selling new releases of Windows is how they accomplish this.
I truly do not understand why they are nixing Windows XP. The money making opportunity is tremendous: Take 1/10th of their O/S development team, and have them work on bug fixes for Windows XP. Pay them by charging subscriptions for XP support. It wouldn't have to be much: maybe $10 to $20 per year would be more than enough, and those still hanging on to Windows
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There's no particularly good reason to believe that its bug count per line is any higher than any subsequent, later version of Windows. One million is pretty small, Did you mean 40 Million? [yahoo.com]
It's tough, going to work and doing boring stuff but the $250,000 pay scale overcomes an awful lot of developer resistance...
And languages and libraries too! (Score:3)
Well said! Now if we could only get people also to apply the same ideas to fixing up programming languages and libraries (e..g Swift vs. C/D/Java/JavaScript/Smalltalk/etc.) instead of inventing new ones that just have different gaps and different bugs...
Re:Repetitive (broken) OS abandonment (Score:5, Insightful)
People shouldn't HAVE to pay for bug fixes. I sell you a product for $100 and I promise it does a, b, and c. However, sometimes it does c incorrectly. You'd demand that I fix it, no? But no, I'm a software developer so I just say, "Sorry, I don't have time for that, but here's my new version you can have for (another) $100!" What other industry gets away with this?
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I've never seen an OS advertised as supporting [FUTURE REQUIREMENT].
So they do A, B and C just fine. But when requirement X happens, what do you do? If you're advocating that an OS should be required to always support future software (or be resistant to some unknown malware), good luck with that.
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No. They don't. That's my exact point. My OSX, version 10.7, has broken UDP broadcast reception -- it can only serve one client at a time (for BROADCAST packets!) My OSX can't print UTF-8 text through the console correctly. I even know what the problem is, and Apple knows what it is too, I spoke to the guy who wrote the CUPs stuff himself while we worked out what it was, and when we did, he informed me that a compiler bug prevents the feature from working on a Mac Mini (work
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People shouldn't HAVE to pay for bug fixes. I sell you a product for $100 and I promise it does a, b, and c. However, sometimes it does c incorrectly. You'd demand that I fix it, no? But no, I'm a software developer so I just say, "Sorry, I don't have time for that, but here's my new version you can have for (another) $100!" What other industry gets away with this?
Most markets get away with that. It's called Marketing. We now live in the Marketing generation - people demand lies over facts and results.
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Well yeah. If I sell you a potato peeler and it doesn't peel potatoes, you shouldn't have to upgrade in order to peel a spud.
The trouble is it's harder to clearly define requirements in the software world. In IT a lot of those bug reports would concern the peeler's inability to cope with Grapefruit. Or with Potato 2.0 the peel of which is made from 4 inch steel for security reasons. Or with a potato three miles in diameter.
You can't reasonably expect a single
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No. You can pretty much count on the fact that almost nothing I propose depends on legislation. That well has been completely poisoned.
In this instance, I'd like to see consumers realize they are being repeatedly screwed w/o lube, and hold the OS and app vendor's feet to the fire in the traditional way: by voting with their wallet.
I know the odds perfectly well. That's how I feel anyway.
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We discussed the Y2K problem in my intro to comp science class in Jan 1982..
Re:This "nightmare" rigns a bell (Score:5, Funny)
That was actually January 3982. It was easier just to let it roll over the first time round.
Nightmare of Slashdot ads sending me to viruses (Score:2)
Re:Nightmare of Slashdot ads sending me to viruses (Score:5, Funny)
Well, that would be less of a problem if you didn't surf SlashDot using your refrigerator or crop-monitoring drone...
Re:Nightmare of Slashdot ads sending me to viruses (Score:4, Funny)
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Don't say that word, lest you summon ... him.
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You might already have a virus. I've never seen any such thing on /.
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It did it to me Friday. One of the rotating ads is/was malware. I wasn't even doing anything in browser at the time.
Along that line....
What the hell is this place like with ads turned on now? This says they are OFF and I still get 1-2 moving/sliding ads and a damn pop-over, but polls and other features are turned off as collateral damage !?!?
PS auto-audio ads might chase away many of us surfing at work which is probably a bigger audience than you really want to know :O
Driverless cars... (Score:4, Insightful)
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But I'm sure they'll all be bullet-proof secure, don'tcha think?
What kind of glass are you using?
Oh, that kind of "bullet-proof". Not the Chicago Musicians' Union kind...
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Eddie Jefferson was shot outside a Detroit nightclub in 1979 by a dancer who was pissed off at him. In 1972, Lee Morgan was killed on-stage in a New York night club by his jealous girlfriend. In 1988, Chet Baker died when he "fell out of a window". One of the greatest tragedies of all was when Clifford Brown died in 1956, at the age of 25, when a car he was riding in ran off a highway on-ramp in the rain. Probably the most amazing jazz musician's death was that of Buddy Rich, who somehow managed to
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But think of the potential for abusing car-to-car networking.
"I'm late for work!"
*hackhackhack*
"Now I'm a fire engine! Move aside, everyone! Let the emergency vehicle through."
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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Internet access isn't needed, though. You can do some searching and find ATM hacks using the mag card reader.
I would assume that with enough playing around, there may be a key combination that could cause an exploit on the slots, but the cameras all over the casino do a good job mitigating that threat.
Re:The poster is showing his prejudice. (Score:4, Informative)
Slots? Impossible :)
http://www.wired.com/images_bl... [wired.com]
The "hack" was to get the operator of the video poker machine to enable the "double or nothing" bonus, which had a unique bug.
Most newer video poker and slot machines allow (or can allow) you to play at various coin values. Each credit can be $0.01, $0.05, $0.25, $1, $5, etc.
This particular machine would allow you to wager at $0.01, reach the Double or Nothing screen, use a combination of keys to get to the credit value change screen, and return to the Double or Nothing wager with your bet still pending.
In short, you would put in a $100 bill. You would wager 100 of your 10,000 credits at $0.01/credit ($1) until you won, and when reaching the Double or Nothing screen, you would navigate out to the change credit screen. You'd change your credit value to $5 per credit (dropping you down to ~20 credits in the bank), return to the DoN screen with your bet IN CREDITS, NOT DOLLARS still pending and then you'd stand a chance to win 400 credits (twice your original CREDIT win) on your DoN bet. you could win $400 on $1, on what should have been a simple 2-1 (doubled) 4-1 payout.
The spread likely wasn't $0.01/$5.00, probably was $0.25/$2.00 at the most, but by picking and choosing good payouts to DoN on, they were essentially playing machines with a winning paytable. [Since DoN's didn't pay double or zero, they paid 16x or zero.]
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For some reason companies try to put computers and networks into everything. Take cars for example, not only they are full of computers running very complex software (most of which is not really needed), now there is even internet connection for cars. Why? My 1982 car does not have internet connection and I really don't see a reason why it should.
I started preferring simpler devices, usually ones that I can repair myself if they break. Sure, computers are an exception and I have an older smartphone (Nokia E
Re:The poster is showing his prejudice. (Score:5, Informative)
I don't mind smart appliances - but again, I don't see why they need internet access. The exceptions to this (smart TV's, for example) should be viewed with suspicion specifically because they are likely to be connected to the internet in some way, but my smart refrigerator probably shouldn't be - and ATM's, slot machines, SCADA systems, etc. almost certainly should never be.
Just because you haven't encountered a specific example for yourself doesn't mean they don't exist in the real world.
The TV? Netflix, of course.
The BluRay player? New keys for new disks, and to unlock "extra special downloadable content" (whatever that may be.)
The thermostat? You're coming home from summer vacation and want to turn on the A/C a few hours before you arrive.
The laundry machines? You're upstairs, out of earshot of the dryer, and want to know when the load is done so you can hang up your clothes to prevent wrinkles.
The smart refrigerator? Maybe you're having a problem, and need the technician to connect to it to remotely diagnose it and give you an estimate without making an expensive house call.
The freeze alarms? You're out of town during the winter, and want to be alerted if your house temperature drops to the point where it's threatening to freeze your water pipes, so you can call a neighbor for help or a repairman to fix the furnace.
The door camera, locks, and security alarms? You're still out of town and want to let the repairman in, so you look at the ID he holds up to the camera and remotely unlock the door for him.
The window shades? They're located high up in the skylights where you installed a motorized system to operate them, so it was a small additional expense to add a remote control. And as today may be very sunny, you want to close them while at work to keep the house cooler.
The dishwasher? It might need to know the scheduled price of electricity in order to avoid running during peak rates, and save you money.
These are not made up examples - they happen every day. If someone already has the connectivity, and pays for the equipment to have the capabilities, there's no reason they shouldn't also enjoy the convenience.
Note that this is true whether or not you personally think it's a good idea to connect your washing machine to the internet: the reality is Sally Soccermom and Charlie Cuttingedge already have houses full of this tech. You can buy all this stuff at Best Buy and Home Depot and Verizon today.
Of all of these systems, most are designed and built with a remote update mechanism. Some that aren't (door locks, freeze alarms) are generally run through a home automation controller that is itself updatable; so even if you can't remotely patch your freeze alarm, you can at least patch the controller that interfaces with the network. Also of note, most are aware of the typical home firewall configuration, and are designed to "phone home" to check for updates. They generally don't sit on the raw internet and listen for incoming connections, so the attacker generally has to get inside the firewall to abuse them (which is not that big of a problem for many models of firewalls, that's for sure.)
Re:The poster is showing his prejudice. (Score:4, Interesting)
A lot of those examples are solved problems, and at worst are minor inconveniences. Many IoT proposals can easily be replaced with three existing categories of solution: "other people", "paying attention", and "non-networked computing". To address your specific examples:
Thermostat: Schedule the turn-on in advance. Alternate, come home, move your luggage inside, turn on the AC, and go out to dinner.
Laundry machines: Check a clock every so often.
Broken fridge: Show failure status on an LCD. Or have a USB port that you can plug a laptop or a smart phone into.
Freezing weather: Ask a neighbor or a friend to check on your house once every day or two. You may already be doing this if you have pets.
Door opening: See above re: neighbor or friend, or hide a key somewhere.
Out-of-reach window shades: Close them before you leave for work.
Dishwasher: Assuming that scheduling is really that much of a money-save, start it manually before you go to bed. Or use a time delay. Or load the data into the washer via USB.
The more serious problems are much more rare, and that must be weighed against the constant vulnerability from having internet-connected appliances and the upkeep required to secure them.
Perhaps a better option would be to get away from the idea that networking should imply both internet access and full remote control. Is there any reason an embedded device can't limit communications to its own subnet? Stick an upgradable, patchable PC on the network to act as a master, and have it talk to the outside world. Meanwhile, the appliance should be designed at the hardware level so that remote access only gets you status information and the ability to trigger a few well-defined fail-safe modes. Using a stove as an example, you would be able to tell if the burners are on, or force them off, but you wouldn't be able to turn them on or change the heat setting.
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A truly special reply suggesting mitigating a theoretical, limited, network security vulnerability by quite literally leaving the physical keys to the castle out in public. Please hand in your risk assessment credentials at the door.
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A truly special reply suggesting mitigating a theoretical, limited, network security vulnerability by quite literally leaving the physical keys to the castle out in public. Please hand in your risk assessment credentials at the door.
I think you misunderstand. I'm not saying you should leave a key right outside the door all the time. I'm suggesting hiding a key somewhere non-obvious, *temporarily*, as a backup method in case you can't have an actual human being present. The alternative is an always-on, globally-accessible network attack surface for your front door lock. If that's compromised, getting in is as easy as "send me X bitcoins and I'll open the door at Y o'clock".
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You completely missed the point. Nobody cares if you don't want your stuff connected to the internet, or if you have clumsy workarounds to offer them.
This stuff already exists and it is already connected to the internet. It is an existing problem that will only get worse as more stuff is added.
It doesn't matter if you personally think hooking things to the network isn't safe. They're not products under your control. Samsung and JVC and Sony and LG and Panasonic and Honeywell and everybody and his brother
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This stuff already exists and it is already connected to the internet. It is an existing problem that will only get worse as more stuff is added.
Just because the equipment is present doesn't mean it's connected. At the very least, the user has to pick a wireless network and enter the password. I see your point, though.
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Internet enabled window shades? how dumb. just use a simple wireless non IP protocol. like this tone for UP and that tone for down, like 99% of all somfy and other motorized shades use and have used for the past 40 years.
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Here's a better use case: they're part of a home theater setup, where when the user sets the "watch movie" scene, the lights dim, the shades darken, and the A/V system powers up. They may not be directly on the internet, but controllable through a home automation system.
If you already have Somfy blinds, here's a plug in for Vera home automation systems: http://wiki.micasaverde.com/in... [micasaverde.com]
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I have had that for well over 15 years, Two contact closures work perfectly over wires embedded in the wall.
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And I bet people had hundreds of reasons horses and carriages could do the same things as cars, only better and safer. That sure stopped Ford and Daimler and Benz and Olds from selling those worthless automobiles.
Nobody cares if you can think of workarounds that don't involve the internet, or that rely on some self-aggrandized sense of superiority. They want to get to their thermostat from the beach, and are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege. You won't stop the factories from collecting t
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Not a problem, as I'm fairly certain that none of the slot machines on the floor have any conceivable way of ever connecting directly to any network except for the dark wire casinos use for exactly this purpose.
I'm sure they connect to a network. The question is, is the network attached or otherwise accessible from outside, or by other means (social engineered hack). Unless the network is 100% completely separated from the outside (and even then..) it is at risk.
WMS has slots with online links (Score:2)
player life has a web site and is tied to games in lot's of casinos
wait (Score:3, Interesting)
"Unpatchable" does not mean "Unsecured" in fact, I'd say it adds to security in many senses. A system that can't be patched, can also not be altered to do the attackers bidding. At the very least, any privileges the attacker may have access to can not be elevated to create some even worse situation. Worst case scenario you just disconnect power to the device in question. Submit it for warranty repair. If you're using a closed source software product out of warranty/support it's your own stupid fault.
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A system that can't be patched, can also not be altered to do the attackers bidding.
That's not completely true. Even if a device loads its code from ROM on every reboot, with no capability of flashing new software, an attacker can still patch the running instance of code to do his evil bidding. Many machines will run for months or years without rebooting, allowing the attacker to benefit from them over and over.
The attackers who are hacking into your thermostat or washing machine have little interest in making your house hot, or your clothes dirty. They want to make money. They do that
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this makes no sense. nothing is unpatchable. where you read "unpatchable" you should read: "we will not patch it because it isn't profitable, so please upgrade to our new shiny shit which we obviously won't patch either".
of course folks with malicious intent can find a way to patch it, and will. there is nothing adding to security here, quite the contrary. it's just a big clusterfuck. industry is only interested in perceived security. then of course people get what they pay for.
time to take opensource softw
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There are plenty of embedded systems that are "unpatchable": those that have their programs burned into ROM instead of Flash or EEPROM. The physical hardware required to modify the ROM chips simply doesn't exist in the equipment the manufacturer shipped; or the chips themselves may not even be modifiable once burned.
However, "unpatchable" does not mean they are "unhackable", as the CPU of a von Neuman architecture chip can still be subverted to execute code dynamically loaded into a RAM buffer (and the co
A systemic problem (Score:4, Insightful)
There are two bleeding edges. One is the leading edge of cutting technology.
There other is the trailing edge where systems age out because they take a lot of effort to update.
One way the trailing edge can not be updated because the overall system is designed to where there are critical parts that can not be monkeyed with in a low risk scenario. (This does happen).
The other option on the trailing edge is where the systems are not worth the effort. Most of the Internet of Everything appliances really have zero income after the first few months and yet are expected to have a longer lifetime than many major IT infrastructure requirements.
What happens when the behavior changes (Score:2)
Your fridge sends out a little packet that says: "Hey, I am past my warranty! Time to up the ad volume to MAX". Or: "Please press OK to agree to the new privacy terms and conditions or your device wont work anymore".
There are many serious problems that are here NOW and must be addressed.
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More likely:
"Hey, manufacturer! Spike in consumption of chocolate icecream simutainous with mustard detected. Suggest switching advertising focus to baby clothes and formula milk."
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Already been done: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02... [nytimes.com]
Easy. (Score:3)
Make them patchable over the internet by default.
Oh, wait...
Who cares? It all sucks anyway (Score:2)
The overall level of system quality is so piss poor anyway what does it matter than your toaster is going to try to kill Sarah Connor? Anyone read the news recently? Car makers recalled about eleventy zillion cars recently and half the problems were on board computer based. Are you going to lose any sleep that your refrigerator will get hacked and join Skynet? Because the real problem is going to be that when your Refrigerator blows an 80 cent part on a 2 dollar circuit board it's going to cost $1100 to 're
Trusted by default - right phrase, wrong context (Score:2)
The problem IS that things are trusted by default... but not in the way the author thought. If you trust every program you run by default, you are doomed. An operating system should NEVER trust anything by default... Linux, Windows, OSX all violate this principle. So do embedded devices base on some variant of them.
Never trust by default, and you stop having to worry about side-effects, and start deciding what the limits are ahead of time.
Embedded System Designer's Opinon (Score:5, Informative)
We generally don't work in the world of garbage collected and managed languages, we don't work in the world where everything is already setup and ready to be called through some piss poor abstracted class implementation of system.IO and we don't get safety nets under us to catch what falls through in some kind of completely illogical and messed up exception error system ( C# ). To say embedded systems are insecure is really another way to say one of several things:
1. You didn't allocate enough time, money or proper requirements.
2. You didn't hire someone who is qualified to the job, such as putting a desktop developer onto an embedded project.
3. You didn't consider security when you dreamed up you're fragmented and broken project idea.
This is of course mitigated by a great developer who will go back to the table of executives and tell them they need what they need and won't start until it's delivered. You can't treat an embedded project like a normal software project, when you do you'll end up with systems that make Microsoft proud ( aka 0 security and patch opportunities to fly to the moon ), you need to treat an embedded project like an embedded project and give the embedded developer what he / she needs. Doing other wise will always end up you shit creek and generally the manager or stakeholder is left with the paddle looking like a fool.
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But, But you can just put Linux on there. Then you can use Java for all those fancy things you mentioned. That will solve all your problems.
https://xkcd.com/801/ [xkcd.com]
Seriously, I'm pretty sure I've seen this on an old Vonage box I was playing around with.
For many of the smaller microcontrollers we're lucky to have a full libc. It's always a wonderful day when I have to choose between rewriting an algorithm to use integers or taking a chance with new hardware with a built in floating point unit when the ship
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It's also funny how often that is included with the discussion about why I don't need more time because Java and languages like Java exist. The last time I had to sit in a board room and had to listen to a desktop develop
"with many fathers"? (Score:2)
[...]affecting everything from mom-and-pop shops to power stations. This unpatchable hell is a problem with many fathers, from recalcitrant vendors to customers wary of[...]
This is a weighty issue. I will take it before the elders of my own company -- surely those wise fathers will know what to do. In the meantime, send forth the maidens to wail and weep in the streets, that all the people may know how grievous is this news.
No "Unpatchable Systems" (Score:3)
We don't have unpatchable systems. What we have are vendors not wanting to maintain support for too long as they want to force people to buying always the newest to generate revenue.
There is this overall trend in IT industry that hardware gets softer and softer. With every generation, more features are implemented in software, and therefore are, in theory, patchable. But the possibilities of the soft hardware don't meet the commercial interest of the companies.
We have multiple benefits when using computer machines for doing human's work. But we also need to realize this doesn't come for free. Either we live with vulnerable systems, or we update them, simple as that. When purchasing new hardware it should always be a question to ask whether the software can be updated, and how the hw will be maintained. Compliances usually have a bad performance in this. Use well known parts, and be as mainstream as possible.
Computers don't have a long history of serving humans yet. I hope these update issues are a problem of the first generations.
To Serve Man (Score:2)
"Computers don't have a long history of serving humans yet."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... [wikipedia.org]
Or the recent Slashdot article on robots being used to rip apart mosquitoes...
http://science.slashdot.org/st... [slashdot.org]
Or previously, slugs:
http://science.slashdot.org/st... [slashdot.org]
""SlugBot is no ordinary robot. SlugBot hunts down slugs, and is powered by fermenting the slugs' corpses, producing biogas fuel. "
See also, for a different robotic dystopia from helping too much and "protecting" too much: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W. [wikipedia.org]
Why? (Score:2)
The marketers, sure, they want me to think that I need that. But, really, what conceivable value or advantage would the ($30-extra purchase price) confer to me?
None? Well, I must be a sucker.
Or, wait, I have to actually exert more effort to maintain the internet security of my refrigerator, which wasn't and should have never been internet-connected in the first place? If you find yourself in this latter situation, you are dumber than a s
Because we are all doomed! (Score:2)
You know, all of this stuff MUST be connected to the internet.. or it will EXPLODE!
Oh wait it wont.. so just not plugging it in makes it 100% hack proof.
Integrated Appliances Already Hit by This (Score:3)
I have an Onkyo amplifier (mid-range) and an LG BlueRay player (low-end). A few months back, the Onkyo no longer could connect to Rhapsody (yah, I know, Rhapsody, but the wife likes it). Onkyo knows about it, and basically says "tough" because it's an old model (~ 4 years). I can use Chromecast, but it's an annoyance, because now I have to have a phone or tablet around to listen to music. The BlueRay player no longer shows images for Netflix in its bundled application. I can use Chromecast, but again, it's annoying. It's apparently in neither company's interest to update the firmware (which is updateable on both devices) to fix these issues, because they believe I will go out and by a more recent device (if I do, obviously it will be from neither of these companies).
The whole concept of integrated A/V appliances continues to underwhelm me. Fortunately, I didn't drop extra coin for a "smart" TV, but it seems that it's how the market is moving.
Why Even Upgrade? (Score:2)
I'm not trying to start a flame war, but really - as a user I see more change in software as churning to turn a dollar vs. actual improvement. A model where a software might be patched and "recalled" for improvement fo
Re:But if it can be hack broken, it can be hack fi (Score:4, Insightful)
Probably not unless the user wants it fixed, and most don't. People have plenty of experiences with patches breaking new things, or taking away old functionality they had come to depend on. When someone tells me "this patch will solve all your problems", they usually aren't advertising the list of new problems they're creating for me. Anyone who plays iPhone app games knows that the patches sometimes come with game-stopping bugs; other patches have been known to suddenly add annoying advertising.
Usually, I'm at a point of equilibrium where I am at least coping with the bugs in the devices surrounding me. If I know that the "mute button" on my GoogleTV box doesn't work unless I press it twice, I simply learn to press it twice; while I know it's a stupid workaround, it's one I can live with. What I might not be able to live with are the bugs that come with the next round of patches.
Now, we make that experience hurdle even harder to scale: as a end user, I think security patches are worse than regular patches. The end user doesn't see a physical benefit from the patches, but knows he might suffer. What does he care if his thermostat or washing machine is sending spam around the world, as long as his house is warm and his clothes are clean? But if he installs the patches, he risks having a cold house or dirty clothes, or even advertisements streaming across his refrigerator's screen. It's just not worth the risk to patch them.
And if you want to see a really risk-averse, don't-patch-me crowd, talk to the SCADA industrial control people. If you suggest you need to update the software running the sewage ejection pump, the city engineer is going to hand you an invoice for $20,000 and say "that covers my cost of testing your patch."
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It's Bladerunner all over again.
Security (Score:3)
What if that could save you money? (it can.) What if it adds convenience and security? (it can.) What if it informs you about your usage such that you can improve your comfort level? (it can.) What if it gives you remote information, such as "the heater has failed, the pipes will freeze, you need to come deal with this" (it can.) What then? Still no business being Internet enabled?
It's not a fai
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What if that could save you money? (it can.) What if it adds convenience and security? (it can.) What if it informs you about your usage such that you can improve your comfort level? (it can.) What if it gives you remote information, such as "the heater has failed, the pipes will freeze, you need to come deal with this" (it can.) What then? Still no business being Internet enabled?
Does it really have to be internet connected to save you money? By sacrificing a little bit of convenience you could gain a lot of security on your device and at the same time avoid that some asshat script kiddie in another state or country cause your cost saving device actually make you spend more money just for the fun of it. Or worse, turns off your furnace and disable your warning system and make it generate "All is OK reports" while you are soaking away in the sun with an umbrella drink in hand blissfu
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So I will know if someone steals my toast?
there is ZERO advantage to an internet enabled toaster. Z E R O.
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So I will know if someone steals my toast? there is ZERO advantage to an internet enabled toaster. Z E R O.
How about upgrades to your 'Talkie Toaster"? http://reddwarf.wikia.com/wiki... [wikia.com]
"Given that God is infinite, and that the universe is also infinite... would you like a toasted teacake?"
RJ-11 on the Toaster. Or WiFi. (Score:2)
No? What if it prints darth vader on the toast for your kids, but they want han solo? What if the fuzzy logic that makes sure the toast is properly browned doesn't work on darker bread, but they figure it out and can upgrade it and the wife LOVES darker breads? What if it prints JAR JAR on the toast but you could upgrade it to print Leia??? JAR JAR man, you HAVE to get rid of that, it'll crush your kid's very SOULS.
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You haven't ruled out the possibility that I'm a Luddite, curmudgeon or better yet, both.
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My idea - don't hook a toaster to the internet. If you want to set it to toast before you wake up, I can get you $5 60-year-old clock radio that will switch the power on when the alarm goes off.
Same with every other trivial example in this thread. Critical embedded system = don't hook to internet.
Brett
Re: (Score:2)
And it's not a nightmare... Put it in a secure lan if it has to be on a network.
I know companies that still are running Windows NT 4 servers that they have not patched in years, and they have no problems because they have Competent IT and network Admins that know what they need to do to keep it secure.
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That doesn't address the issue of unintended side effects from existing bugs. I agree that a separate LAN can help mitigate things, but it doesn't eliminate the odd things that can happen in a world where code is trusted by default.
Imagine if your garage light switch would 1 out of every 1000,000 times, cause your roof to fall off your house.... this is the world of software that can do anything.