You are driving on a lonely country road at night and feel lost. Your navigation system was supposed to be taking you to visit a friend, but now you find the road has come to a dead end. Your engine stops and the screen on your car changes to this: “We have taken your car hostage. We control all systems and you can’t operate the vehicle in any fashion.” You see headlights pulling in behind you. The screen updates to “Throw your wallet, jewelry, cash, and any other objects of value out the window.” Your window goes down without you touching it. The screen says “Look ahead only and wait.” You can see someone getting out of the car behind you, wearing a mask, walking towards you. Should you try to run? You feel the fear creeping up the back of your neck. You feel defenseless. The car behind you leaves, with all the things you threw out the window. Suddenly, your car starts on its own and you gasp. The screen says “Thank you, your car has been returned to you.” You let out the breath you feel like you have been holding for an hour. The screen updates to “For now…”
I wrote previously about the importance of privacy and security in technology. Specifically this:
Privacy. Humans realizing that we can and should control what is known about us and by whom.
Security. Humans realizing that we have entrusted our existence to vulnerable technologies.
I want to dig a bit deeper into the topic of security.
If you own a car, and likely even if you don’t, you have some idea of the things that could easily go wrong with a car. Flat tires, dead battery, out of gas or electricity, misalignment of the wheels, etc. Any one of these things might happen and if they happened at the wrong time or place could put you at some sort of risk.
If you own a home, you have in the back of your mind things like water heaters exploding, gas lines leaking, termites in the attic, and frozen pipes bursting. All of these might create some risk, but most homeowners know how to recognize the signs and/or prevent the issue.
If you own a gun, hopefully you have a trigger lock and/or gun safe, never hand a loaded weapon to someone, and never point a weapon at anyone. Accidents, sadly, happen all the time.
When you fly from coast to coast on a Boeing 737, you are trusting the engineering skills of thousands of experts along with the maintenance work done by airlines and others and the skills of pilots and air traffic controllers and many others to keep you safe. The things that can cause a significant problem in an aircraft are many, and most of them are likely a mystery to the average passenger.
Inside your car, your house, and that airplane (but not yet that gun) are also thousands of computer chips, sensors, controllers, and millions of lines of code. Look around the car and see the fancy digital screen and all the programs it contains - which is only a portion of the systems controlling that car. Look around your house at the thermostat, TVs, lighting systems, smart speakers, WiFi refrigerators, and WiFi baby monitors. That massive 737 contains so thousands of systems and controllers and sensors along with its two (16-bit!) CPUs1.
I believe we all know at some level the depth to which technology not only permeates our personal lives but also the entire physical world around us. Events like the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack catch our attention and then fade from view. There were 82 ransomware incidents impacting the healthcare sector in the first five months of 2021. There are 14.5 billion spam messages sent via email daily. About 2.5% of those spam emails contain real threats to identity and privacy.
You are driving on a lonely country road and your car develops a flat tire. You might get out and change the tire. Perhaps you call AAA or your auto manufacturer hotline. Maybe even let a friendly stranger stop and help. Hopefully you are back on the road in 30 or 45 minutes. Safe and sound.
You notice your water heater has developed a small leak. You call a repair person, hope it is still under warranty, and avoid a messy home disaster.
The radio announces a tornado alert. You know how to take shelter.
The TV says there is a pandemic and you should wear a mask when among other humans.
We are all prepared at some level to acknowledge threat and take responsive and responsible actions. But what happens when we are totally uninformed and unprepared?
The story at the beginning of this article should scare you, especially because it paints a relatively benign picture of what could happen. I fear the reality of our future might be much worse.