The Internet of Things - Improvement in Everyday Items or Security Threat?

A few years back we put in a Nest thermostat.  This thing allegedly learns your patterns and saves you energy.  Sort of.  If you can operate an old analog thermostat and turn it down, it really doesn't do anything more than that.  The only really good thing about it is that it is easier to program and automatically deals with time changes.  Worth $250?  You decide.  But here is the other thing about this thing.  It connects to your wireless network so you can adjusted while you are away....  So can some 15 year old hacker.

GE is also advertising a host of "smart appliances".  God help us.  More expense, less reliability but I digress.  These are also connected to the internet.  Why?  To figure out energy pricing and make decisions about when to use energy.  Sounds great, right?  Lower your bills?  First, do the math and see how many years it takes to pay these new appliances off and factor in the increased maintenance cost before you rush out with your credit card in hand.

There is a much more powerful reason to be concerned about this trend.  With everyone of these devices you just opened another entry point into your personal network.  Further, lots of these devices are designed to send information back to the factories to give them useful design and marketing data. You just extended that vulnerability to the manufacture's network.  Meaning if someone hacks the manufacture's network they can now get into your home network and have access to all your personal digital crown jewels.

Further, companies like Google are buying up some of these companies.  Why?  They get another window into your world and viola, another window into your network.  Set aside concerns about why Google wants that data (enough to pay over $1B for Nest).

I spent the last year working for a cyber security company in Australia.  Some scary smart folks.  One thing we talked about was securing industrial networks.   One of our guys enlightened me that if you want to hack into a company's secure network, start with the HVAC system.  Why?  These things have very sophisticated control systems that are networked together but not very securely in most cases.  Further, most facilities organizations tie this networks to the main company networks so get into the HVAC system and you are on your way to the corporate network and can lap up all that secure data.

I'm not saying to invest in smart technology for your home, just ask the right questions before you do and think about what vulnerabilities you are creating.  Years ago I was on a very expensive yacht powered by a pair of very expensive diesel engines.  The owner went to great lengths to turn off the tracking and networking features that sent data back to the manufacturer.  A man clearly ahead of his time.