Back to work after a long holiday weekend! I thought I would start the week off with a recap of LANDESK Interchange 2015. The show was great! The very first keynote showed off some of the new workspaces which bring together LANDESK Systems Management and Service Desk features for the user that will make life easier. The ability to use your phone to take an image of on-screen errors and have a solution presented to you, without having to contact IT directly, was pretty cool. The new security workspace was also very interesting to see, but the highlight of the keynotes for me was on day two and three.
The keynote on day two focused on Security. Rob Juncker, Tom Davis, and Steve Morton talked about how more devices are being connected to the internet every day. The Internet of Things is bringing us more innovative life experiences than ever, but with this more connected world we have larger concerns. Self driving cars, internet connected toasters, voice activated TVs (which vendor admit are spying on you), and much more are getting connected every day. Rob then scared everyone by talking about that internet connected toaster and how it may be used as an attack to potentially burn down a house. Scary realization.
The final day of the event, we had a guest keynote speaker, Marc Goodman, author of Future Crimes. Marc hit on all the topics from they keynote the day before and really opened some eyes. Marc talked about the exponential growth of technology and the proliferation of internet connected devices. And while really cool things may come of these trends, ultimately, it is leading us to a world where crime knows no borders, no boundaries, and becomes less and less personal. A good example of this is the hacking ring which reportedly has stolen up to $1 billion from banks globally. These are not street thugs walking into banks with masks on, but cybercriminals with the skills to target more than 100 banks in 30 countries.
Marc talked about the risks the future brings if we are not diligent about security. Risks like exploiting vulnerabilities in a car and he even went as far as to share this photo in reference to the previous day’s keynote conversations around toasters #fearthetoaster.
While no toaster exploits have occurred yet, the message was clear. In a future where more of our world will be connected, more of that world will be exposed to risks. Marc’s message was about awareness. We can do great things if we work together. If companies do their part in securing the customer and personal data they collect, and if the new innovators creating the next connected device do so with security in mind, we can mitigate these risks.
Check out Marc’s Update Protocol on his website and his book Future Crimes. There are some tips here that will help you protect yourself and your company.
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