Cyber Breaches Will Kill

People's property and life are getting increasingly exposed to cyber-attacks because just about everything today has computing power, an information security expert warns. A world of "smart" devices means the Internet can kill people.

“It used to be what with computer security, we were worried about computers, desktops and laptops,” Bruce Schneier, (pictured) a special advisor to IBM Security, said Tuesday 14th May during the Payments Canada Summit in Toronto.

But cars, appliances, power plants and medical devices are at increased risk from hacking attacks, suggested Schneier, author of Click Here to Kill Everybody.

Everything is a computer. Ovens are computers that make things hot; refrigerators are computers that keep things cold. These computers, from home thermostats to chemical plants, are all online. The Internet, once a virtual abstraction, can now sense and touch the physical world.

As we open our lives to this future, often called the Internet of Things, we are beginning to see its enormous potential in ideas like driverless cars, smart cities, and personal agents equipped with their own behavioral algorithms. But every knife cuts two ways.

“All the lessons from computer security, about vulnerabilities, about hacking, about complexity, about changing technology, become true for everything everywhere, and I am not convinced we are ready for that,” Schneier said during the recent  Payments Canada Summit in Toronto.

“There’s a fundamental difference between ‘my spreadsheet crashes and I lose my data,’ and ‘my embedded heart monitor crashes and I lose my life,'” said Schneier.

But the computer you use for the spreadsheets could have the same type of operating system and central processing unit as one with an embedded heart monitor, added Schneier, and therefore the same method can be used to attack both.

“It’s only what the computer is attached to that makes a difference and that is the world that is coming.”
Conventional computers can be made more secure with patching but this is because the software vendors have teams working on software that addresses security issues and can be installed by the users.

“That fails with low-cost medical devices. The teams don’t exist.”

Schneier suggested that although he worries that someone might hack into his medical records and steal his private health records, he is even more worried about the consequences of a hacker being able to alter his health records and show that he has a different blood type.

Cyber security has three major elements, confidentiality, integrity and availability, said Schneier.

Confidentiality means only certain authorised people can access the data.

Integrity means the data cannot be changed and availability means that one has access to the data. So a corporate data breach means the data is no longer being kept confidentiality, while a ransomware attack means the data is no longer available.

If a criminal can hack into medical records and change what is recorded as the patient’s blood type, then the integrity of the data is compromised.

“When you get to computers that affect the world in a direct physical manner, the integrity and availability attacks are much worse than the confidentiality attacks because there are real risks to life and property,” said Schneier.

He demonstrated the significance by using an example of hackers targeting a connected car. Listening to one’s conversations on a Bluetooth-enabled cellphone or figuring out someone’s location is a confidentiality breach, suggested Schneier.

“I really don’t want them disabling the brakes. That is a data availability attack,” said Schneier, who is also a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University

“Your car used to be a mechanical device. Now it’s a computer with four wheels plus and an engine.”

Canadian Underwriter:

You Might Also Read: 

Security Flaws In Smart City Technology

 

 

« The Worldwide Skills Shortage Is Growing
Iranian Cyber-Espionage Exposed »

Infosecurity Europe
CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

ManageEngine

ManageEngine

As the IT management division of Zoho Corporation, ManageEngine prioritizes flexible solutions that work for all businesses, regardless of size or budget.

ZenGRC

ZenGRC

ZenGRC (formerly Reciprocity) is a leader in the GRC SaaS landscape, offering robust and intuitive products designed to make compliance straightforward and efficient.

The PC Support Group

The PC Support Group

A partnership with The PC Support Group delivers improved productivity, reduced costs and protects your business through exceptional IT, telecoms and cybersecurity services.

IT Governance

IT Governance

IT Governance is a leading global provider of information security solutions. Download our free guide and find out how ISO 27001 can help protect your organisation's information.

Infosecurity Europe, 3-5 June 2025, ExCel London

Infosecurity Europe, 3-5 June 2025, ExCel London

This year, Infosecurity Europe marks 30 years of bringing the global cybersecurity community together to further our joint mission of Building a Safer Cyber World.

Varonis

Varonis

Varonis provide a security software platform to let organizations track, visualize, analyze and protect their unstructured data.

Infoblox

Infoblox

Infoblox solutions help businesses automate complex network control functions to reduce costs, increase security and maximize uptime.

Bricata

Bricata

Bricata offers industry-leading IPS solutions for enterprise-wide threat prevention and unparalleled situational awareness.

CionSystems

CionSystems

CionSystems provides identity, access and authentication solutions to improve security and streamline IT infrastructure management.

EclecticIQ

EclecticIQ

EclecticIQ is a global provider of threat intelligence, hunting and response technology and services.

Masergy Communications

Masergy Communications

Masergy delivers hybrid networking, managed security and cloud communication solutions to enterprises around the globe.

TrustArc

TrustArc

TrustArc provide privacy compliance and risk management with integrated technology, consulting and TRUSTe certification solutions – addressing all phases of privacy program management.

Database Cyber Security Guard

Database Cyber Security Guard

Database Cyber Security Guard (aka Don't Be Breached) informs Security Professionals and DBAs of Zero Day, Ransomware and Data Breach attacks within milli-seconds

LMG Security

LMG Security

LMG Security is a cybersecurity consulting, research and training firm.

Onward Security

Onward Security

Onward Security provides security solutions including network & application assessment, product security testing and security consulting services.

Pentesec

Pentesec

Pentesec is a security specialist offering professional services, managed security services and expertise within an extensive range of security technologies.

Cyber Security Works (CSW)

Cyber Security Works (CSW)

Cyber Security Works is your organization’s early cybersecurity warning system to help prevent attacks before they happen.

Normalyze

Normalyze

Normalyze are solving some of the most painful problems enterprise IT security teams face in the cloud and data security space. We help enterprises protect all the data they run in the cloud.

Fletch

Fletch

Fletch’s AI tracks the evolving cybersecurity threat landscape by reading and interpreting every threat article every day and matching those threats to a company’s exposure.

Mercury Systems

Mercury Systems

Mercury Systems is the leader in making trusted, secure mission-critical technologies profoundly more accessible to aerospace and defense.

PriorityZero

PriorityZero

PriorityZero is a European company focused on remote security assessments and consulting services that operates on a global scale.