There’s a fundamental problem with smart devices warns Kim Zetter and Andy Greenberg in Wired magazine.
In Why Firmware Is So Vulnerable to Hacking, and What Can Be Done About It, Zetter and Green look at the problem with the embedded software that is shipped with every computerised device from Personal Computers to smart sensors.
The problem with firmware is that it’s difficult to check it’s not been changed, awkward to upgrade and complex to find, the Wired piece mentions how even the batteries in Apple laptops have vulnerable software embedded into their chips.
As the smart devices become common in our homes, cars and workplaces suppliers will have to do more to secure their software.