The idea was not to stop them from working but to transform them into zombies or botnets with a view to using them as relay stations for future cyber attacks.These include vases which tell you when they need fresh water, insulin pumps -- or how about *** toys?So, the worried tech consumer may be asking him or herself -- can a cyber hacker deprive me of my morning slug of caffeine?Or maybe keep my thermostat blocked at 10 Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) -- a chilling thought -- or even take over my GPS if I don&Hot Mounting Consumables Suppliers39;t hand over a ransom?Theoretically, yes, specialists tell AFP.In a not so far-off future, the source of a software glitch with serious consequences for the simple consumer could be anything from a connected coffee machine or refrigerator to a techie toy or an outsmart-you television.When hackers lurking with their laptops have finished conjuring what havoc they might wreak on distant roads there are plenty of other things to which they could turn their attention.All that would required would be to perfect the sort of virus one can find on offer within the murky confines of the "darknet", off the beaten track for day to day netizens.."There's no label such as a made in Europe kind of tag guaranteeing an object won't catch fire, or won't pose a risk to children.and today there are no mass market gadgets with Windows loaded in order to function," says Gerome Billois, a consultant with Wavestone..

This states that "once a device is described as 'intelligent', you can consider it as vulnerable.But in the brave new inter-connected world heralded by the internet of things (IoT), so-called "ransomware" attacks could have as their source something quite mundane and yet present in ever more modern households.," warns Loic # Guezo, a cyber security analyst for southern Europe with Japanese security software company Trend Micro.Cyber security specialists are very much aware of the need to keep working on solutions offering protection as more and more homes go "smart" and "connected" with various boxes as add-ons to their usual routers.Mikko Hypponen, head of research at Finnish security specialists F-Secure, has for his part come up with his eponymous Hypponen's Law.Web-connected gadgets are becoming all the rage with tech-aware professionals.The Mirai malware strain made from hacked IoT devices including badly secured routers and internet connected cameras recently infected hundreds of thousands of poorly secured connected objects.Last week at a timely cyber security conference in The Netherlands, American wunderkind Reuben Paul, just 11, stunned an audience of security experts by hacking into a teddy bear via bluetooth to show how interconnected smart toys "can be weaponised".But the mere idea that it only needs a hacker to give the software a malevolent tweak to send them on the blink with disastrous consequences may yet threaten the development of such goods' popular take-up. Such an individual will not feel the need to make do with small-scale attacks.Connected TVs, having rapidly become widespread, are an ideal portal for making ransom demands."

All the other connected objects can be pirated, that has been shown, be it a coffee machine, a refrigerator, a thermostat, electronic entry systems, the lighting system."In contrast, there have already been massive attacks on connected objects," Billois told AFP.The massive global cyber attack that wreaked havoc in computer systems earlier this month caused plenty of visible disruption, not least in Britain's National Health Service.According to documents released in March by Wikileaks, US intelligence can hack smartphones, computers and smart, web-connected TVs, to pilot them and eavesdrop."Regarding last weekend's attack there is no risk for connected objects. That in particular hit systems running Windows .His prowess showed just how easy it is for tech savvy individuals to use everyday objects to harvest data or use them as spy holes for covert surveillance.."Tomorrow, one can imagine devices which attack your connected house, bringing it under control, and then you get sent a mesغير مجاز مي باشدe by another channel," muses Guezo.."It is extremely difficult to calculate the solidity of a connected object in terms of cybersecurity," Billois regrets."The logic of a cybercriminal is to make money," says Wavestone's Billois.".Some experts feel that, in the rush to bring fascinating and cutting edge technologies into the home, the need for commensurate security has been rather left behind.The specialists' plan is to work with the makers of connected goods in order to incorporate a security interface right from the start, thereby offering what the profession calls "security by design"."- Neglected security -The future might well spell connected cars -- but they too are subject to potential remote hacking, the consequences of which barely need stating."As a consumer it is today impossible to know if you are buying a secure connected object or not," he adds