We are in a security ‘grey zone’ – the liminal space between peace and war

Detailed summary

A generic email was able to scramble military jets, ground aircraft, take RTÉ and Newstalk off air and consume Garda and ministerial attention ...

The clearest sign yet that I am getting old is that two friends, in the space of a month, have texted me excitedly about their washing machines. Specifically, that each now has an app from which they can “watch” their laundry’s progress.

What utility this serves is not entirely clear to me. But what is becoming far more obvious is that the “internet of everything” – in which our cookers, fridges, cars and doorbells were connected to, and controlled from, servers in far-flung places – was never a good idea.

And this week we are beginning to understand what happens when the everything-is-connected model releases its sequel: everything-is-hackable.

On Monday morning, the Musgrave group, which owns Supervalu, announced that a “cyber incident” had hit the refrigeration systems in 13 of its Irish shops.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Irish Times. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.