Chiff and Fipple Forums

Article:

Dad: Hacker spoke to baby, taunted me, turned up thermostat

Yep, its everywhere with the technology and with the smartness of devices our home is even more dangerous.

hacked home security camera
https://www.wfsb.com/report-couple-says ... fad4f.html

worse yet
https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/n ... 1294256406

Funny how it never occurred to me that getting up and going to the door to lock it should be an imposition. I do like the TV remote, though; THAT was genius. I don't have it hooked up to an app, though. I don't have anything hooked up to an app, for that matter, and that's just the way I like it. Running everything from my smartphone would certainly be convenience at its Jetsons best, but it's at too high a potential cost for my liking. It may sound topsy-turvy, but in not being connected, I feel I actually have more freedom. The allure of the Internet of Things is in how it can free up your life, but my life is pretty convenient already, so I see the IOT as overkill, and what I like least about it is having to be at its mercy; the freedom it promises is something of an illusion, the way I see it. But to each their own.

I have never kept important documents on my computer. There's an interesting technology out there that I use, and it's impossible to hack; it's called paper.

We got an Apple HomePod and disabled the voice activation. But here's a creepy or great thing: you can get individual "smart bulbs" and smart outlets and then program them using the HomePod as a hub. So we took a trip out of the country and were able to program a bunch of light to turn on and off multiple times a day, or "38 minutes before sunset" or really whatever you want. And we could turn the house lights on and off remotely from several thousand miles away.

You know, that's the thing: So much of this stuff is actually useful and even beneficial, like controlling your home's lights from a distance, if you need to, as a security measure. But what I'd want is a contained system, independent of the Internet and therefore unhackable, that could do the job. If it could be randomized just enough to be all the more convincing, so much the better. I wouldn't mind so much not being able to be hands-on when I'm away, because if we're to be honest with ourselves, that's really no better a security feature when you're not there yourself; some breakers-in are still willing to take the chance. And I totally get wanting to keep an eye on things with cameras. The problem is in how we must connect with those systems: since the Internet's involved, those connections are ultimately breachable and can be taken over, as we have seen on no uncertain terms. If everyone in the world were honest and benevolent, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Nanohedron wrote:There's an interesting technology out there that I use, and it's impossible to hack; it's called paper.

It's good, but can still be lost or stolen.

Peter Duggan wrote:

Nanohedron wrote:There's an interesting technology out there that I use, and it's impossible to hack; it's called paper.

It's good, but can still be lost or stolen.

And so many important documents have been ruined by water damage, mold, or fire. I do like paper though.

ytliek wrote:

Peter Duggan wrote:

Nanohedron wrote:There's an interesting technology out there that I use, and it's impossible to hack; it's called paper.

It's good, but can still be lost or stolen.

And so many important documents have been ruined by water damage, mold, or fire. I do like paper though.

Of course no system is going to be 100% ideal; fate is uncertain at best, except to say that at some point and without exception, all things pass. But given good storage and barring engraving things on stone or metal, I find paper most attractive of all for one lifetime. A close second would be flash drive, but its usefulness depends on a system that I find too fragile to put all my my trust in.

Although I use technology, I never really 'trust' it, that's why I have back ups of my data, on removable media, but never have passwords or anything important kept on a computer, especially one that connects to the internet. No, I have no interest in I.O.T. - that only needs an I.D. in front of it.

In the wake of our cold snap (a mild way to put it), an hour ago I went and manually turned down the thermostat, leaving no doubt that it was done, and correctly. It will stay that way until I change it in person. On this brief sojourn I was meanwhile able to assess the general state of things with my own senses; then there was the creak of the railings, the scuff of the carpet, the play of daylight in the hallways, and a pleasant face-to-face chat with a fellow tenant as well. The IOT can't give you such direct, authentic and intimate contact with the world. I think I would wither away without it.

I haven't seen the point of most of this stuff at all yet. Mind you, I'm not really geared up for the 21st century. I have no central heating, so can't even think about getting something to switch it on before I get home, for instance. If I did have central heating, I'd still wait until I got home to switch it on.

Right. Must go and fill the stove with logs.

benhall.1 wrote:Right. Must go and fill the stove with logs.

Robotics, Ben; robotics. Dust and spiders and splinters and burns are icky and not the way forward. You cannot be fulfilled until you have gadgetry up to your armpits and seeing to your every sanitized need; only then will Iron Age heating be brought into the fold (if you insist) and truly reach its pinnacle, so get on the stick already.

I'm not into connected things either. One of the major issues right now is that they aren't secure and some of the security (such as updates) rely on the consumer to update them, and really, who is going to make sure to update their lightbulbs?
I was reading a publication about this issue recently: a survey conducted for the publication mentioned that 82% of respondents reported a lack of employees with cybersecurity skills and as the internet and things connected to the internet continue to grow the need for people trained in cybersecurity is going to increase and not be filled.

However, one of my favorite applications I learned about a few years ago were connected cows. When I first learned about it, it was kinda cool to hear that one could monitor cow health pretty easily.


(I myself am trying to get into Cybersecurity so if I don't notice responses back I'm probably studying some more. )

Nanohedron wrote:

benhall.1 wrote:Right. Must go and fill the stove with logs.

Robotics, Ben; robotics. Dust and spiders and splinters and burns are icky and not the way forward. You cannot be fulfilled until you have gadgetry up to your armpits and seeing to your every sanitized need; only then will Iron Age heating be brought into the fold (if you insist) and truly reach its pinnacle, so get on the stick already.

Amen.

Iron Age heating

Something like this? try have that talk to the interwebs..




(350 kg of cast iron heating/cooking appliance with cast iron teapot to boot)