The Futility of the Internet of Things - The Hacker's Paradise
A School Security Camera Lets Hackers Steal Childrens' Social Security Numbers
by John Lawrence
You'd think by now the folks that bring you computer and internet related products would have learned their lesson. Anything connected up to the internet can be hacked. So some hackers used a school's security cameras to hack into the school's computer system and steal students' social security numbers. How dumb can the schools be. They should have know this was possible.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Education warned that hackers were targeting schools with weak cyber security and known vulnerabilities, threatening to release sensitive student information unless a ransom is paid.
"In some cases, this has included threats of violence, shaming, or bullying the children unless payment is received," the warning said.
Steve Bradshaw, school superintendent in Columbia Falls, Montana, a quiet town nestled at the foot of Glacier National Park, said he received messages in September from an anonymous person who mentioned "splattering blood all over the hallways."
Bradshaw turned over the alarming messages to local law enforcement.
"The threats were mostly about killing children -- and graphic ways that they were going to kill the children," Columbia Falls Police Chief Clint Peters told NBC News.
When it was evident that the person or group sending the messages was after a ransom in exchange for not releasing student social security numbers, phone numbers and addresses, law enforcement officials began trying to negotiate with the cyber criminals over their demands.
Particularly alarming was the discovery that the group had hacked the school's security cameras and could watch their every move.
The FBI has asked school systems to make cyber security a priority. You think? Now that the cat is out of the bag? It should have been a priority from day 1 when Bill Gates was eating pizza, drinking Jolt cola, working 18 hour days and sleeping under his desk, but no one thought of it then. How could the lovely human race take such a wonderful invention and use it for nefarious purposes?
The Internet of Things now compounds the problem. Every Tom, Dick and Harry who fancies himself or herself an entrepreneur in inventing things that are hooked up to the internet. In the case of the school system, all they needed was an intranet, that is a system that was disconnected from the internet.
How about these wonderful additions to human progress: 1) a smart toilet paper dispenser that can sense when you’re running low and will notify you via an app; 2) a smart hairbrush that uses a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a microphone to listen to your hair to see if you’re brushing it all wrong; 3) an egg tray for your fridge to tell you how many eggs you have left and even how fresh the eggs are, massively superseding the old technology of “looking at the date on the box”.
Garageio lets you open your garage door with your smartphone, rather than with the traditional remote that represents antiquated technology. There is even a $100 Bluetooth toaster that can send you a notification when your toast is done to your desired level of crispness.
As Gizmodo says, "What I’ve learned from this is: man, capitalism creates some truly stupid, useless shit." People would have done more socially useful work if, instead of inventing crap like the above mentioned members of the Internet of Things (the Hacker's Paradise), they would have been picking up garbage along the freeway. That at least would have been beautifying the planet instead of contributing to its trash.
