Ukraine’s power outage was a cyber attack

I find this cyber attack the cut off power very troubling. Our rapid advance in technology many times seems to be creating less robust versions of the technology.

I’m not a luddite who wants to return to the old.
Sure my grandfather never suffered a “service interruption” at home. But it was because he did have any services.

However, most of us do not realize how fragile our infrastructure is. I hope we wake up to this before we suffer a serious outage.

Hacking into a Jeep

Watch the video in this Wired article “Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway—With Me in It.” Two security researchers tap into a Jeep via the Internet. From a house miles away from the Jeep (which means anywhere) they disable the Jeep’s engine, as well as control various other functions. This is scary.

We are not ready for the Internet of Things.

Why is My Smart Home So Dumb

In this Gizmodo article author Adam Clark Estes discusses his frustrations with creating a smart home.

I’d spent the last six months making my home more intelligent with Wink components. That meant six months of programming lightbulbs and installing sensors and adjusting shades and updating hubs. All my effort to connect my appliances added up to this one very public test. My friends didn’t need to walk ten feet to the light switch, when I could manage everything with a couple taps. My friends would be so impressed. I’d talked up my pet project plenty, and now they could watch the future unfold before their very eyes.

I unlocked my phone. I found the right home screen. I opened the Wink app. I navigated to the Lights section. I toggled over to the sets of light bulbs that I’d painstakingly grouped and labeled. I tapped “Living Room”—this was it—and the icon went from bright to dark. (Okay, so that was like six taps.)

Nothing happened.

After a thousand dollars and six months, his first public demo failed. A friend smirked “How many gadget bloggers does it take to turn off a light?”

Not all simple things are bad. The article has a section titled “The Beautiful Simplicity of a Light Switch.” I appreciate most modern conveniences (air conditioning, anesthetics, and antibiotics are three that I cannot live without). But I do long for the simple life. My grandfather was never stuck in traffic or late for conference call because he did have the right passcode.

Senator Says Carmakers Have No Clue About Hacking

I am quite leery about the Internet of Things. I was leery when I first heard of GM’s OnStar. Sure it was cool that it could send you assistance with the touch of a button. And it is really awesome that it can turn the engine off if someone has stolen your car. (Especially, if it is right in front of the police who were vectored to the same location.) However, these cool features mean that GM knows every where you go and someone can shut off your engine. This is tremendous invasion of your privacy and autonomy.

I read today an article on Popular Mechanics that shows automakers do not know what they are doing and probably do not care. Be afraid.