A pair of dueling intelligence exploitation revelations have given the ongoing Snowden releases a run for their money. The first is the allegation that Russia provided poisoned gifts to delegates at the G20 summit. The complementary USB sticks and telephone chargers which they distributed to attendees came with trojan software installed (in the case of the USB sticks) while the cell phone chargers had the ability to slurp data from phones connected to them and send it onward to quarters unknown. Apparently the malware accessories were first recognized as hacking devices by Herman Von Rompuy’s staff. There have been official statements that the devices were not used by any heads of states, but there are indications they may have been picked up by various members of their staffs. Russia has made an official denial of any involvement with the hacking attack, instead stating that this revelation is merely an attempt to distract the world from the NSA spying scandal. There has also been a report published (first in Russian media) that Russian customs officials had seized a number of electric coffeepots, imported from China, which when plugged in search for unlocked wireless networks and then start distributing malware and sending spam emails.
Undoubtedly this sort of situation is not what futurists predicting an “Internet of Things” anticipated. However, we must come to the conclusion that with ubiquitous computing will come ubiquitous malware and exploitative software. It may not yet be time to lie awake at night worrying if your toaster is hacking into your email and changing the controls on your fridge and your TiVo, but the hour certainly draws near.