Tag: internet of things

What happens when the power goes out?

How would you cope if the electricity was turned off?

Cisco gave a media and analyst briefing earlier today on the Internet of everything looking at how various technologies can help with tasks ranging from reducing traffic accidents to improving productivity which I’ll write up later.

One of the analyst’s questions though is worth pondering – “what happens when the power goes out?”

For most of the industrial processes discussed by Cisco and the panellists, this would be a hassle but most of the systems would, or should, be designed to fall back to a default position should the power fail.

On a much bigger scale though this is something we don’t really think through.

In modern Western societyour affluent lifestyle is based upon complex supply chains that get the food to our supermarkets, fuel to our petrol pumps, water to our taps and electricity to our homes.

Those chains are far more fragile than we think and few of us give any thought to how we’d survive if the power was off for more than a few hours or if the shop didn’t have any milk and bread for days.

It’s one of the fascinating thing with the end of the world movies. When the meteorite hits or aliens take over then our power and food supplies probably have only 72 hours before they dry up.

After that, you’ve probably got more to worry about your neighbours trying to steal your hoard than being ripped to pieces by zombies.

Most of us probably wouldn’t cope without the safe, comfortable certainties which we’ve become used to.

One thing is for sure — if the power does fail, then most of us will have more to worry about than whether our smartphones are working or whether our geolocating, internet connected fridge is tweeting our wine consumption.

Connecting the household to the internet of everything

The Internet of things comes alive with Australian startup Moore’s Cloud

The development of intelligent household appliances like lights is changing our lives in subtle ways, Australian startup Moore’s Cloud is a good example of how cheap computing, accessible internet and open applications are coming together.

One of the frontiers of technology right now is the internet of things, where machines connect directly to each other, cutting out the requirement for people to monitor them.

Good examples of these devices is the internet connected fridge – which was the poster child for pointless connectivity during tech wreck in the early 2000s but is now standard equipment in hotels, restaurants and hospitals where monitoring stock levels has become wholly automated.

Cheap hardware has driven this trend, as processor prices have tumbled it’s become cost effective to incorporate intelligent systems into almost every household device. Everything from the kettle to the washing machine now has some sort of CPU in it.

Moore’s Cloud is a good example of how the internet of machines is coming together. A simple cube shaped device has the electronic smarts to connect with other lights and be controlled by software apps.

Being able to create is important as the software interfaces – the APIs – are open which people to write programs that take advantage of the light’s features. A video from the Moore’s Cloud builders showcases twelve of the apps which have been developed so far which include weather forecasting, night lights and changing moods.

Having an ‘ecosystem’ of apps is now driving innovation in consumer electronics. The iPhone started the app revolution and now everything from stereo systems to lights are being controlled by them. Devices that don’t have open APIs are at risk of being left behind.

With systems being open to interested designers, anybody can create their own way of controlling device which opens the way for some innovative, left of field ideas.

In many respects, Moore’s Cloud is one of the early wave of smart features we’re going to see in the next generation of household appliances that will change how we use these tools.

The team behind Moore’s Cloud is still raising money for the project through Kickstarter, their campaign finishes this Friday. Hopefully they’ll meet their targets and take the project further.

The strange story of the Stuxnet worm

A virus crippling the Iranian nuclear program could affect your business

The tale of the virus infecting Iran’s nuclear program is one of the fascinating stories of the computer world.

Whoever wrote the Stuxnet worm did a spectacular job in bringing together a number of security problems and then using two weak links — unpatched Windows servers and poorly designed programmable logic controller software — to create a mighty mess in the target organisation.

The scary thing with a rootkit like Stuxnet is that once it has got into the system, you can never be sure whether you’ve properly got rid of it.

What’s worse, this program will be writing to the Programmable Logic Controllers the infected computers supervise so plant operators will never know exactly what changes might have carried out on the devices essential to a plant’s operations and safety.

Damaging Iranian nuclear plants

A report on the Make The World A Better Place websites over the weekend indicates the Stuxnet Worm may have damaged the Iranian nuclear reactor program.

The story behind the Suxnet worm is remarkable. It appears this little beast is a sophisticated act of sabotage involving using a number of weaknesses in computer systems as detailed by Computer World in their Stuxnet Worm hits Industrial Systems and is Stuxnet the best Malware Ever articles.

The risk of unpatched systems

One of the things that leaps out is how servers running unpatched systems are an important part of the infection process. The Stuxnet worm partly relies on a security hole that was patched by Microsoft two years ago so obviously the Iranian servers were running an unpatched, older version of Windows.

This is fairly common in the automation industries. I’ve personally seen outdated, unpatched Windows servers running CCTV, security, home automation and dispatch systems. They are in that state because the equipment vendors have supplied the equipment and then failed to maintain them.

These companies deserve real criticism for using off the shelf, commercial software to run mission critical systems that it was never designed to do.

Commercial programs like the various Windows, Mac and other mass market operating systems are designed for general use, they come with a whole range of service and features that industrial control systems don’t need. In fact, the Stuxnet worm uses one of those services, the printer spooler, to give itself control of the system.

Securing industrial systems

These industrial systems require far more basic and secure control programs, a cheap option would be a customised Linux version with all the unnecessary features stripped out. In the case of Siemens, the providers of the PLCs supplied to the Iranian government, it’s disappointing such a big organisation couldn’t build its own software to control these systems.

Business owners, and anyone who has computer controlled equipment in the premises, need to ask some hard questions to their suppliers about how secure supplied computer equipment is in this age of networked services and Internet worms.