We live in an increasingly computerized and connected world, with computers controlling millions of processes while often linked to one another via wireless and cellular networks. Bluetooth connects cars to cell phones. Some trains, some planes, and some automobiles are wi-fi hotspots. Pilots have recently started taking iPads into the cockpit. While the benefits of all these computers and connectivity are readily apparent, new and significant risks are also slowly emerging into the public’s consciousness.

In an interview which aired late last year, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, was asked by Charlie Rose about cyberwafare and its looming reality. Bezos offered a sobering assessment:

Most people . . . think that computer viruses can mess with their data. They don’t think of computer viruses as things that can destroy physical infrastructure.

Bezos refers to the Stuxnet virus, which was used to damage or destroy Iranian centrifuges. Stuxnet was designed to proliferate widely, but included a malware payload that targeted Siemens equipment especially. When Iran procured embargoed Siemens equipment from dealers and attempted to use it as part of their nuclear program, the Stuxnet virus may have spun up their centrifuges beyond their limits, damaging or destroying them. Certainly, damage was done, and the Iranian nuclear program was set back by months or years. Stuxnet was widely believed to be the work of foreign governments seeking to retard Iran’s development of nuclear technology.

As Bezos notes, the same potential exists for malware or viruses to destroy other type of turbines, notably power plant turbines, which operate at their structural limits most times already. Spin them up another 20% with a computer virus, and you can cripple a city or a nation.

Other recent investigations show a high level of coordination between such virus deployments and virus programming, suggesting coordinated efforts by national governments. In one case, malware went to 5,000 unique IP addresses — 3,700 in Iran and 1,300 in Sudan. This kind of targeted deployment makes security experts strongly suspect the involvement of one or more nation states.

The targets of malware and other hackery can be more personal. A recent article by Charles C. Mann in Vanity Fair discusses the emerging threat that may exist given the number of implantable medical devices, use of the Web, and the proliferation of cell phones. The scenarios presented are rather concerning:

• A type of “denial of service” attack on pacemakers, making them fire more than they should, draining their batteries and leaving the victim susceptible to death from the condition the pacemaker was designed to resolve.
• Hacking into a Web site for people suffering seizures, and creating flashing backgrounds that induced seizures. (This one has already occurred.)
• Reprogramming of implantable insulin pumps, so that insulin either floods the bloodstream or is blocked, killing the victim.

A security expert, Barnaby Jack, is profiled by Mann. Jack became concerned after he realized how vulnerable these medical devices were, as this vignette involving an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) shows:

. . . with a custom-built transmitter, Jack had discovered how to signal an I.C.D. from 30 feet away. It reacted as if the signal were in fact coming from the manufacturer’s official I.C.D. programmer. Instructed by the counterfeit signal, the I.C.D. suddenly spat out 830 volts—an instantly lethal zap. Had the device been connected to an actual human heart, the fatal episode would likely have been blamed on a malfunction.

Jack’s concern is that smartphones will soon be able to launch undetected attacks at these implanted medical devices, with the result — death, disability — looking like a malfunction, its nefarious origin undetectable. In fact, the proliferation and complex abilities of smartphones makes them ideal devices for such malfeasance. They contain multiple radios (cellular, wi-fi, Bluetooth) and can be easily programmed. Users can get within feet of intended targets without carrying bulky gear or appearing suspicious.

Implanted medical devices aren’t the only risk outlined in the article. Many computers in other settings are addressable in a similar manner, including the tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) in automobiles, which can be hacked so that cars can be tracked surreptitiously; automatic vehicle disabling technology can be hacked into, stopping cars remotely; and hands-free cell phone technology can be hacked so that conversations in the car can be recorded.

Software updates for cars from the Cloud are being introduced, increasing the risk of undetected hacking and viruses.

Your home isn’t your castle once it’s connected to the Internet through a “smart meter,” for instance. Smart meters are being installed by the thousands, recording the energy consumption in a household and transmitting this to the power company, sparing them from having to trek out to peer at your meter and allowing homeowners real-time monitoring of their power consumption. However, these meters also allow breaches of privacy, if you know what you’re doing:

By studying three homes’ smart-meter records, researchers at the University of Massachusetts were able to deduce not only how many people were in each dwelling at any given time but also when they were using their computers, coffee machines, and toasters. Incredibly, [the] group at the University of Washington was able to use tiny fluctuations in power usage to figure out exactly what movies people were watching on their TVs. (The play of imagery on the monitor creates a unique fingerprint of electromagnetic interference that can be matched to a database of such fingerprints.)

Children’s toys are also becoming a risk, as wi-fi connections and Web cams are integrated into them. For instance, a toy robot with wi-fi connectivity and a Web cam (and VOIP phone capabilities) is currently available. Security consultants are worried that these create even more security risks — risks that are invisible to parents.

And yet we move forward, with driverless cars, fly-by-wire airplanes, more and more cell phones, and more highly computerized cars, homes, and bodies, leading one expert to opine thusly:

In 10 years, computers will be everywhere we look, and they’ll all have wireless. Will you be able to compromise someone’s insulin pump through their car? Will you be able to induce seizures by subverting their house lights? Will you be able to run these exploits by cell phone? What’s possible? It’s more like ‘What won’t be possible?’

With the smartphone as one likely instrument of havoc in a world full of connected hostilities — personal, military, national — the benign face of technology is being remade. As Mann writes at the end of his Vanity Fair piece:

If Ridley Scott, say, were to attempt a remake of Dial M for Murder, I’m not sure he’d know where to begin.