We also saw this in 2016 when vulnerabilities in Internet-connected webcams and digital video recorders enabled attackers to build a massive cyberweapon that, through a series of steps, took dozens of popular websites offline. The third way is that vulnerabilities can cascade catastrophically.
That is, it is their interaction that creates the vulnerabilities, without any individual system being at fault. The second way hyper-connection leads to vulnerabilities is that individual things, when combined, can generate new vulnerabilities. We saw this last year when a major Vegas casino’s high-roller database was hacked through - and I am not making this up - its Internet-connected fish tank. First, vulnerabilities in one thing can affect another thing. This is generally a goodness, but it leads to vulnerabilities in unexpected ways. How does this lead to vulnerabilities?īS: As we connect more things to the Internet, they can affect each other. HF: Technology has created a hyper-connected world. I asked him what the risks are, why they are so serious and what their consequences are for politics. Bruce Schneier’s new book, “Click Here to Kill Everybody,” explains the security risks of a new world of household devices connected to the Internet.
