On My Way To Meet The Hackable Man

Jay Owens is a Technology Journalist and Reporter @ Global Digital Times a specialized publication avidly read by engineers and anybody who has more than a vague interest in Information Technology.

This is Wednesday and Jay is about to leave his house and head for San Diego to interview the CEO of a young Start Up, he has planned a photo shoot and thinks he will possibly scoop some premium info on the launch of a new product from the same firm. Jay is 63 and has seen it all but today for some reasons he cannot wait to meet the guys from this small but promising company.

Jay has already loaded some material in the 4x4 brand new Suzuki he has recently purchased when picking some bags on the porch he heard the familiar sound of a drone which was clearly heading his way, curious but not alarmed he did not think much of it but a few minutes later the same drone had landed 3 feet away from him. Besides the drone Jay could see the little flying machine was carrying a small envelop for his attention.

''Dear Jay Owens You don’t know me but I know you in fact I know all about you from your bank accounts details and recent transactions to your various social media accounts including your medical records I hope your wireless managed pace maker gives you satisfaction''

How come whoever it is knows about the pace maker? Apart from his wife and parents almost nobody knows Jay got a pace maker set up 9 years ago following a cardiac incident. Only the Suniai Medical University Hospital Consultant has his records, a year ago Jay agreed to be part of a pilot and got his old pace maker upgraded to a monitored wireless device.

He kept a low profile on this when he took a leave of absence and even Jay’s current employer is not aware as he thought this could prevent him from having interesting gigs, the mind has mysterious ways sometimes. But this is serious, this is very serious indeed, this is no joke not even a bad one the amount of cash asked to be transferred to a named account in the Caiman Islands is very real.

Fx*K the Internet of things is the first reaction from Jay, in his field he has heard about ransomware for example no later than Feb 2016 a Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Centre was hit by ransomware and it is assumed they paid 40 bitcoins roughly the equivalent of 17 000 dollars, he knows that if he does not submit a bank transfer before the required deadline he will be in trouble those guys can mess up with the device big time and that could lead to some serious health issues including death.

What should I do Jay asks himself, should I contact the Suniai Hospital, should I call the Police, who should I contact? What mistakes have I made to end up in such a situation. At that point and for some less than obivious reasons Jay recalls a meeting he recently had with a Cyber Insurer and the specific discussion they had on the e-crimes market. Cybercriminals can wait months sometimes years to activate their plans and once they do they rarely can be stopped however it is not all doom and gloom some preventive steps can be taken and are efficient if not considered as an overhead.

Listen you cannot be casual with your digital identity nowadays Jay was told by the Cyber consultant, here are the main issues that need to be addressed: Lack of transport encryption – Authentication – Insecure mobile devices – Lack of secure code applications – Lack of Privacy concern-

Defeated and sitting on his porch Jay is staring blindly at the note while the drone returns to its unknown base.

Without noticing Jay realizes he had become

AN HACKABLE MAN

Sources

Vigitrust Advisory Board

Michael Johnson @ Northwell

Photo Credits

Unknow Destination