What if that robot patrolling your mall was hacked? Or that driverless car was reprogrammed to plow into a busy walkway near your stadium? As technology takes over more and more tasks ordinarily performed by humans, that threat is becoming a real possibility.
In one recent incident, the makers of telepresence, or wheeled robots had to issue security patches after they discovered that hackers may have been able to access GPS coordinates or even gain control of the robot itself, potentially compromising sensitive office documents.
Many of the vulnerabilities stem from open-source code used during a robot’s development. Turns out sharing code goes on all the time, but the practice could leave the device – and the company purchasing it – at risk.
There are ways to protect yourself (besides not purchasing a robot, of course). You can read about other risks and safeguards here: