Connected AND Secured? Think Again

Connected products run software across layers of silicon, firmware, radios, buses, sensors, cloud APIs, companion apps, and a supply chain of third-party components – every such layer is an attack surface. The failures scale from embarrassed customers to hijacked pacemakers to weaponized national infrastructure. The fixes are well-known – and routinely skipped.

On a July afternoon in 2015, journalist Andy Greenberg climbed into a Jeep Cherokee on the outskirts of St. Louis, merged onto Interstate 64, and began a drive he’d remember for the rest of his career. Two security researchers – Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek – were ten miles away, poring over a laptop in Miller’s living room. They had told Greenberg what they planned to do. He had agreed to be the test subject. He still wasn’t ready.

First the air conditioning blasted cold. Then the radio switched to a local hip-hop station at full volume. The windshield wipers fired, spraying fluid across the glass. Greenberg was laughing nervously, jabbing at the dashboard controls. Nothing responded.