How about that. Target, the White House, CIA, FBI and a host of other companies have been hacked and people shrug it off.

The Sony hack was different — a political show of arms.

Last week I commented on the FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez’s focus on security at CES.

Seems she’s not the only one.

According to a survey by Piper Jaffray, security was ranked as the top spending priority for CIOs this year, with a whopping 75% of the respondents saying they would increase spending in 2015.

That’s nearly 20% higher than last year.

It’s about time — if they follow through.

And it looks like they might, since the venture crowd has scented money.

Piper Jaffray’s survey asked only 112 CIOs across eight different industries, so the results should be taken with a grain of salt. Still, security seems to be a huge concern for everyone in tech, as some of the top venture capitalists in Silicon Valley also picked it as one of their biggest investment areas this year.

That concern is also being driven partly by users waking up to the fact that while companies are happy to take their money they haven’t given much of a damn about keeping their online selves safe, i.e., their information secure.

And that is turning up the heat on the privacy issue as those same companies splice, dice and sell personally identifiable information to enhance their own bottom line.

The dangerous, even lethal, ramifications of hacking are obvious.

Thanks to the hacks of 2014, culminating with Sony, tech’s laissez-faire, “it’s not our problem” attitude towards these dangers seems to be changing.

One can only hope that it changes faster than connectivity grows.

Image credit: markus jakobs

Entrepreneurs are notorious for ignoring security — black hat hackers are a myth — until something bad happens, which, sooner or later, always does.

They go their merry way, tying all manner of things to the internet, even contraceptives and cars, and inventing search engines like Shodan to find them, with nary a thought or worry about hacking.

Concerns are pooh-poohed by the digerati and those voicing them are considered Luddites, anti-progress or worse.

Now Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, voiced those concerns at CES, the biggest Internet of Things showcase.

“Any device that is connected to the Internet is at risk of being hijacked,” said Ms. Ramirez, who added that the large number of Internet-connected devices would “increase the number of access points” for hackers.

Interesting when you think about the millions of baby monitors, fitness trackers, glucose monitors, thermostats and dozens of other common items available and the hundreds being dreamed up daily by both startups and enterprise.

She also confronted tech’s (led by Google and Facebook) self-serving attitude towards collecting and keeping huge amounts of personal data was the basis of future innovation.

“I question the notion that we must put sensitive consumer data at risk on the off chance a company might someday discover a valuable use for the information.”

At least someone in a responsible position has finally voiced these concerns — but whether or not she can do anything against tech’s growing political clout/money/lobbying power remains to be seen.

Image credit: centralasian

Over the holiday weekend “Eric” canceled his email subscription and the reason given made me smile.

He said my post about the potential for hacking the “Internet of Things” was more fear-mongering than fact, so he was, as I always recommend, “voting with his feet” and unsubscribing.

Granted, I should have referenced my proof, but it’s hard to remember every article I read and this one dates back 15 months.

It’s an article about a search engine called Shodan — the Internet of Things’ worst nightmare.

Shodan crawls the Internet looking for devices, many of which are programmed to answer. It has found cars, fetal heart monitors, office building heating-control systems, water treatment facilities, power plant controls, traffic lights and glucose meters. (…) “Google crawls for websites. I crawl for devices,” says John Matherly, the tall, goateed 29-year-old who released Shodan in 2009.

Shodan wasn’t built for nefarious purposes, but intent has very little to do with actual usage.

Currently, Shodan is the only device search engine with public search results, which is, obviously, a boon to hackers.

However, I agree with Matherly, because if he hadn’t built it someone else would have.

“I don’t consider my search engine scary. It’s scary that there are power plants connected to the Internet.”

And, in case you are wondering, yes, I sent the article URL to Eric.

Flickr image credit: centralasian

Have you been hearing about the “Internet of Things?” Hearing how everything you use, everything you own will connect to the Net?

And I mean everything! Bill Gates is even funding development of a Net-enabled woman’s contraceptive.

Google is building Net-enabled, smart, self-driving cars.

The media claims that the Internet of Things will be world-changing.

Are you excited?

Some things are already available.

Whirlpool’s “smart” washing machine boasts Wi-Fi and a colored control screen, can be started from an iPhone app, and will text or email you when your clothes are ready to dry…

And there’s more excitement coming in the next few years.

Whirlpool said its “kitchen of 2020” would be piled high with not-exactly-necessary whirligigs: stove-tops that display the weather, Facebook photos and Pinterest recipes; music-playing refrigerators; oven burners that flame up via voice command.

There’s just one teeny-tiny, minor problem that I rarely see mentioned in all the news, excitement and hype.

Hacking.

Every system currently in existence has been or can be hacked.

What makes anyone think that the things of the Internet of Things won’t be hacked, too?

Flickr image credit: centralasian