South African David Jacobson was a hacker in a past life. Now he is co-founder and technical director at SYNAQ, a leading provider of cloud-based messaging and communication services for South African businesses.
He is passionate about entrepreneurship, technology and South Africa. In an opinion piece for ITWebAfrica, Jacobson talked about the Internet of Things (IoT) and warned that we need to redefine what we mean by security on a professional and personal level in the landscape of hackability we now inhabit.
Cisco Systems Inc. predicts that 50 billion things will be connected to the Internet by 2020, Jacobson said. Examples of this include intelligent fridges that know when you’re
out of milk and order more for you from your local store; remote-controlled homes and smart cities with conveniences and optimizations for the human race never seen before.
Cisco defines the Internet of Things (IoT) as the network of physical objects accessed through the Internet. When objects can sense and communicate, it changes how and where decisions are made, and who makes them. Cisco created a dynamic connections counter to track the estimated number of connected things from July 2013 until July 2020.
We’re at a new stage of technological evolution but also a new era of risk with humans exposed to a new, personal levels of attack through technology, Jacobson said.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is going to be one of the greatest technological revolutions mankind has ever seen, he said. It’s a world where just about anything can be
connected and communicate intelligently. The physical world is becoming one big information system. As much as it brings benefits in connectivity, it also brings challenges that we are unprepared for. Security on a personal and professional level needs to be redefined in this new landscape.
Right now, being hacked is limited to online portals being exposed, he said. Whether this means business servers, services, physical devices or personal accounts being exploited, the vulnerability is limited and management of security is clear. Soon though, your fridge could become part of a botnet that brings down your office network.
Being hacked will mean potential harm and vulnerability to people on all levels, from your home security being disabled and your home open to access, to your children being exposed to strangers across the world.
Jacobson worries that the Internet of Things brings with it a number of concerns that vendors, consumers and businesses appear to not be considering. There isn’t a security standard for smart devices and no third-party software is being developed to be installed on such devices because TVs, fridges and baby monitors for example, have never been online before, he said.
The thought of smartphone security is not yet a reality for consumers let alone security for their smart TVs, Jacobson said.
The Internet of Things is connecting new places such as energy grids, manufacturing floors, healthcare facilities and transportation systems to the Internet. When an object can represent itself digitally, it can be controlled from anywhere. This connectivity means more data, gathered from more places, with more ways to increase efficiency and improve safety and security, according to Cisco.
Jacobson urges consumers to challenge vendors’ security integrity. Vendors need to come up with a secure standard in preparation for the next wave of hacking, he said. As with all security application, the key is vigilance.
Create good passwords and then change them occasionally, especially after there has been an attack detected in the system.
As exciting as it will be to have your home on remote control, Jacobson said it’s equally
necessary to protect your family’s data and things in this changing world.
The term Internet of Things may have been proposed by Kevin Ashton in 1999 though the concept has been discussed since at least 1991. The concept of the Internet of Things could have become popular through the Auto-ID Center at MIT, according to an online source.
