You don't play with guns...

Although we Europeans are generally very cautious on the subject of "private weapons", we should not be deceived by this - in other regions people do indeed "play" with weapons. And here, too, securing weapons is one of the central issues.

...others already

A few weeks ago, a wide variety of research results or "hacks" were presented at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. In addition to security in the area of car IT, the compromise of a sniper rifle certainly stood out.

The $13,000 rifle is equipped with an electronic sighting system that ensures aiming accuracy even over long distances.

This can be adjusted externally via WLAN with relevant information such as wind direction and strength, exit energy or projectile weight.

Unfortunately, this function can also be abused. Hackers can, for example, prevent the weapon from firing or change the set parameters. These then change - invisibly for the shooter - the bullet direction and thus possibly the target!

Now the number of buyers of this rifle, thanks in part to the price, should not be excessive. But a similar danger threatens from the self-made camp.

Homegrown armed drones

Armed drones are nothing new in the military sphere. In the private sphere, however, they are prohibited and rather rare. But that doesn't stop anyone from building such a vehicle themselves.

In a recent video, you can see a homemade drone with a pistol as a payload. The pistol is fired in flight from a distance. And although the recoil shakes the drone vigorously, it can already start the next shot after about ten seconds.

The combination of two previously independent devices suddenly leads to an exponentially higher potential danger. There is certainly no need to elaborate on the danger posed by such home-made weapons systems that fall into the wrong hands. And drones and (gas-pressure) weapons for "conversion" are available on every street corner.

Both scenarios have things in common: On the one hand, the increasing networking of systems with a wide variety of technologies increases the attack surface for potential attackers.

On the other hand, many systems were originally developed as compartmentalized systems, where security was therefore not a primary development goal.

The subsequent "flanging" of communication options to such insecure systems thus increases the attack surface even further.

I admit that I have deliberately chosen very martial examples here. Ultimately, however, they are only an example of a certain class of devices from the Internet of Things. And as with "normal" devices, there are comparable dangers here.

For us as users, this means that we must consciously counter the trend of the Internet of Things. As soon as a device can communicate electronically, the attack surface automatically increases as well. And at least with "normal" devices, it is up to us as buyers to make sure that secure devices are preferred.

Only then will device manufacturers be forced to make security a fundamental part of the solution. And that ultimately benefits us all. Whether it's smart watches, fitness trackers, cars, or even drones and weapons...