The Internet of Things...

Have you ever heard this term before? It's relatively new and has really only been used the last 5 years or so. What is the internet of things? Well, with the inception of wireless networks, both public and private being a normal mainstay in today's technological landscape, more and more devices are now being able to be connected to your wireless network at home. Refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, home climate controls, security systems, and even the very cars we drive each day, can all be compromised. These things are constantly broadcasting to the internet delivering you weather conditions, flight itineraries, package deliveries, software updates, recipes, music, and they're everywhere....and that's the problem.

Scary, isn't it? Although to most people seeing this, it isn’t because they don’t understand the implications.

With all this connectivity in our daily lives, information is everywhere. We have powerful computers in our pockets in the form of smartphones and tablets that can retrieve information for us in mere seconds. But how safe is it to have all these things in our home connected to the web? Most people probably don't think that having their fancy new Samsung refrigerator with the small LCD display connected to their wireless network is that big of a threat, and truth be told it probably isn't. I don't hear about hackers taking control of people's refrigerators and turning the temperature up so all of their food spoils. What I have seen is smart tv's by the same manufacturer having severe security holes in their software that have allowed random people online to watch them in their home on that television's camera. Nobody really thinks about how something like putting their pretty flat screen TV on the web being a serious detriment to their privacy but obviously it is. A criminal can find out a lot about a family by watching them every single day unbeknownst to them.

You see, the companies that offer us all these really cool conveniences powered by the web are typically only thinking about the service their offering to the customer. Again, the convenience. What they rarely take into account is the actual security risks involved if someone other than the owner of that product is able to take control of it. This is what happens when we have so many random devices on the internet aka "the internet of things." Having all this modern technology around to make our lives easier is great, but it comes at a cost. If it's not the manufacturer selling your information at a hefty sum to advertisers or other entities, it's the lack of security in the software ultimately costing you your privacy and in some cases even your personal security. A smart thing to ask yourself in today's digital world is, "Just because this device can connect to the internet and tell me things I'd like to know, is it really even necessary? Or is this just a novelty?" Most of the time it’s simply a novelty and something to show your friends. “Hey, look what this thing can do!” The only way to truly know 100% if a certain piece of software or even hardware is safe and secure is if you built it yourself, and even then, it's real easy to miss something. Ask a developer/software engineer how many holes they have to constantly plug in their own code and see what they tell you.

At the end of the day if you're connected, you're at risk. The key to staying safe and secure is to constantly be thinking about how you can mitigate your exposure to it. Ask yourself what that device knows about you. Does it know your home address? Does it know your credit card number? Does it use encryption? It's really easy for a would be attacker to figure out a lot about you by just tiny pieces of information. From whether or not you're married, have children, what kind of car you drive, to what the name of the family pet is. As always, I urge everyone to be careful with their information and guard it like the priceless item it is. Don't get lured into sacrificing personal information and security for simple convenience and the cool factor when guests come over. I can assure you as sure as I write this, it's absolutely not worth it.

Now think about how many businesses might be doing this and exposing their assets without even realizing it.