Is your ‘smart city’ safe from hackers?
The Internet of Things (IoT) has traveled outside the home to businesses and cities as a whole. What does this mean for the consumer or citizen using a business or a city service, where security might be a concern? Let’s go through what could very soon be a typical day for someone out on the town —and the problems lax security could pose.
Bob starts his day with shopping. He ducks into a cafe for a bite of breakfast. The barista apologizes, as the sous vide machine — a water bath meant to stay at predetermined cooking temperature —was hacked via the control app on the chef’s phone. Instead of the temperature the chef set, all the food items are now slightly undercooked. Bob, not one to let a slightly undercooked morsel go to waste, happily buys a cheese-and-bacon snack.
In 2015, half of all cyber attacks were on small businesses. Small and medium businesses often don’t have the resources of larger corporations, which translates to less security. An open WiFi network could lead to hacks. Spear phishing, or specifically targeting the business in an attempt to gain access to login credentials, could lead to credit card information leaks. According to a 2016 report, 65 percent of all spear phishing attacks were on small businesses. And it’s not just a national problem, with 90 percent of cyber attacks in the U.K. targeting small to medium businesses, and the Australian government estimating cyber crime’s impact to be about $17 billion annually.
Bob eats his breakfast on the way to the subway, to visit another part of the city. He tosses his trash into a fancy-looking trash can, only to see multiple garbage trucks idling nearby, halting traffic as the drivers yell at each other. They had all been summoned by their on-board computer to make a pickup, and now everything has slowed to a crawl.
Philadelphia is one of many urban areas currently investing in IoT technology, as is D.C.
