re: The Internet of Things...

ok you got a fridge & a pantry right?

why not qr codes?

an itty bitty qr reader inside the fridge & inside the panrty.

as you pass a product into fridge (or pantry) it scans it

** time passes ** and you have..the THIRD qr reader!

where? attached to trash lid. everytime you drop something in trash it scans it.

all data stored to your phone. then you have the entry & exit points covered.


eta frick that. just use the UPC code already on every product.

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I realize it's a bit irrational, but everything is cracked eventually, and sometimes serious security holes go unnoticed for decades as we found out with Shell Shock last week.

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4096-bit encryption has been broken using side-channel attacks. Supposedly, it wasn't even that difficult. Now, that was with access to the machine without protective measures in place to stop them. Everything can and will be cracked, but it has to be cracked to allow us to see where things went awry.

Personally, I don't think Shellshock is as surprising as everyone makes it out to be. Sure, it's a huge deal, and it's insane that it was out there for so long. With the amount of people with security and hacking skills, it was inevitable that something we all use would have been vulnerable all along. Those reconnaissance don't even take much skill. It's just a gaping vulnerability in software that almost everyone uses (not including the general public with no computer skills or experience). I'd almost wager that the initial "attack" was an accident that they realized could be replicated. Looking at some of the attack methods, they're not complex at all. This isn't a "cracking" issue. It's a "wide open door" issue.

Things like WiFi locks are obviously crackable, but as with everything else, the people who will suffer from it are the ones who put themselves in the line of fire. There are already ways to break into a car wirelessly by intercepting the signal from the keyfob. As with anything else, you have to exercise caution with how you use the technology. If there are multiple levels of authentication (such as device pairing, encryption, and whatnot), it'll be seen as far less enticing to pursue an attack. WiFi is a standard that most of the world uses, and while attacking it isn't terribly hard, it takes some time. The only way it'd be easy enough to quickly break in without some major software flaw or a brute force attack (which would take serious time) is for them to be given access unintentionally.

I just don't have the deep fear that a lot of people I know have. Everything will be hit at some point so you just have to keep yourself as safe as possible and roll with it. The easiest attacks are the ones where you're given access without much work. I've dealt with and learned about security and hacking since I was around 12 years old. Grey hat shite and tinkering with Kali now that I don't have time to keep up with the constant changes of it all. All of that said, I just can't see myself justifying an irrational fear of being targeted. I know what they're capable of. I just think the chance of being hit is unlikely.

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all data stored to your phone. then you have the entry & exit points covered.


eta frick that. just use the UPC code already on every product.

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I wrote a RESTful API to store the data using Node and Angular. All current data is stored both in a DB in the phone and in the cloud in the case of getting a new phone.

As for the UPC code, I looked into it, as I said. The technology for barcode scanning in phone is a pain in the arse, and the cost of using the API for the product information is far too high for something like this. The more I discuss it, the more I realize that typing it in for the first instance of an item and keeping the info stored for quick entry later is the best way to do it until NFC is in everything under the Sun.

Good discussion. Of course the real power of the IoT is when humans aren't necessarily involved. For example, a set of sensors at an intersection detects that traffic has slowed and emergency vehicles are in route. A gas station at the intersection prior responds by lowering gas prices by a nickel and tweets out "Free Coffee with a Fill-Up".

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Things like WiFi locks are obviously crackable, but as with everything else, the people who will suffer from it are the ones who put themselves in the line of fire.

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That's why I'm a bit leery of them. The average person with wireless door locks is probably going to be in the upper class neighborhoods. What is the more likely criminal element they'll run across? A thug from the hood that can pick locks who traveled all the way across town to their neighborhood, or a script kiddie teenager with too much time on his hands? It still may be a very small probability, but I think the people with these locks would have more exposure to someone with a cracking app than lock picking skills.

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Yep. Or use a crowbar.

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First, I was upfront that the fear is irrational. Second, any kind of lock can be bypassed with enough brute force, so I think the discussion should be limited to the lock's pickability, which again leads me back to my presumption of more exposure to lock hackers than lock pickers even though exposure to either group is significantly lower than exposure to people with crowbars, rocks and battering rams.

How do you guys envision a "Smart City/Smart Civilization" looking at it from the Internet of Things point of view?

Let's consider just 4 examples:

Vehicles:
I see smart vehicles that drive themselves, some with passengers and some without. There will hardly be any accidents. If there are, both vehicles will exchange insurance information wirelessly. Cars fill themselves up with gar or charge or whatever they use for energy. All cars are connected to the city's smart traffic network grid and can change routes in real time to avoid traffic.

Homes:
You can control literally every appliance in your home or let them make smart decisions on their own. A refrigerator sends your a text message when it realizes you are at the grocery store. You forget something cooking on the stove and you tell your stove to turn off from your smart phone. Left the iron on and fear that might burn the house down? Just turn if off remotely. The possibilities are endless...

Shipping and delivery:
In addition to regular delivery trucks, mail vans etc., there will be drones flying around delivering stuff. Live on a high rise and don't feel like going to the roof or down to the ground level to pick up your package, the drone hovers next to your balcony and you just take delivery right outside your living room. The next day another drone shows up with your weekly groceries, but you are stuck in the toilet after eating 3 Doritos Locos Tacos at Taco Bell and in no position to meet the drone. No problem. Just ask the drone to hand over the groceries to your CP3 who will then make sure everything goes where it needs to go - refrigerator, pantry etc.

Wearables:
Your shoes talks to your smartphone and tell you when to turn right or left since it knows where your are going. Your protein shaker knows how much protein your had after your work out. Your smart watch talks to your shaker bottle and when it realizes its been 30 mins after your workout and you still haven't had your shake, it will alert you. Your workout clothes monitors all your vitals, how long you worked out, how many calories you burned etc.

I can see almost limitless possibilities with everything around you connected to the internet and having a way to talk to each other and send you alters at the right time. My head is spinning here just thinking about this.

Other thoughts?