With the Internet and with computers in general, everything goes very fast (sometimes even TOO fast!). We barely have time to understand a cyber threat that it has already taken another form. We have barely found a way to protect our data that they are already in the hands of hackers... Being able to prepare instead of suffering is a great defence in cyber-security, so we're going to focus on what awaits us in the future...
To anticipate is better than to adapt.
New equipment, new software and in general new technologies are coming at a fast pace and impacting trade, the global economy, businesses and individuals. These are the topics that we must particularly analyse.
The Internet of Things
Many companies say that the development of the Internet of Things (like the development of other innovation-related areas) is slowed down by cyber-security. It could sound odd but the security issues are real and not trifling. We can even say that the Internet of Things would have already arrived in our homes a few years ago if there were not these security issues.
That said, the Internet of Things (IoT), although it is already well established, remains an area of the future, so it will be particularly important to monitor it from a cyber-security perspective. Connected cars? already hacked. The connected fridge? already hacked. I pass connected TVs, smart speakers or even pacemakers: all have already been hacked.
Drones and autonomous vehicles
UAVs pose a double problem of privacy and security. The first concerns prohibitions of flight over people and homes. The second concerns the drones hacking. Several scenarios are possible but particularly the attack of the Man in the Middle consisting of deflecting the original communications between the remote control and the drone to give it different orders.
Autonomous vehicles are of course not spared, researchers have for example managed to hack a Tesla Model S.
What should we think of autonomous transport services in full development?
All this leads us to ask serious questions about the future, as hacked technologies become more and more risky for the lives of the people using them.
Would technological evolution has found a brake?
Self-service and automation
Self-checkouts are handy for many of us who do not want to line up at the supermarket for a simple box of chocolate and a beer. The problem is that malware can (also) infect these machines to steal BC numbers, e-mail addresses and other sensitive information ...
And by "automating" we can, for example, refer to the services provided by a connected house: automatic remote opening garage doors, temperature settings, alarm clock or lights. Again, hacking these equipments may allow an intruder to act on all these technologies or objects at distance. Forbes proposes an article about it entitled "I haunted the house of a stranger via the Internet"
Artificial intelligence and robotics
Were you waiting for it? The classic end of the world scenario in which out-of-control robots attack humans? It's a bit like the future ultimate technological risks. And although it is not yet quite realistic, we still have several risks around artificial intelligence and robotics. Notably the fact that a "computer virus" would be aware of its environment to react accordingly, or could even predict scenarios ...
"No one has yet boasted of catching any malicious software that clearly relied on machine learning or other variants of artificial intelligence, but that may just be because the attack programs are too good to be caught." – Source
Should we give up and go back?
First of all, I want to reassure you by making the difference between “hacking” and “security”. We have several times indicated that this or that technology has been hacked. But in many cases, these are demonstrations of White-Hat researchers to show (potential) concerns and correct them in time (sometimes a little for the buzz). Of course, this does not exclude that hackers with darker intentions are not already preparing this kind of hack ...
Then, piracy and other problems around privacy have existed for a long time. But it is the acceleration of the new technologies development that makes the problem much more present (and even more dangerous while it impacts our lives more and more). The best advice would be to follow the trends with a warned look and to prepare oneself for the worst to avoid surprises (still, should we know what is the worst scenario...).
So, to anticipate is better than to adapt? Does this mean never following trends and not using the latest technologies?
Excellent questions ...
Do you have other big cyber-security threats to share with us?? Just tell in comments 😉
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