In a self-described bold move, the security firm Internet Identity released a statement this week in which it prognosticated that the Internet will become a murder weapon by 2014.
The predictions read like some kind of cyberpunk nightmare, with Internet Identity (IID) president and CTO Rod Rasmussen writing that the increased connectivity of vehicles and medical devices will eventually allow fiends to kill via their Internet connection. IID points to remotely operated pacemakers and self-driving cars that could be hijacked.
"With so many devices being Internet connected, it makes murdering people remotely relatively simple, at least from a technical perspective," writes Rasmussen. He continues, "if human history shows us anything, if you can find a new way to kill, it will be eventually be used."
The IID release goes on to outline a bleak vision of the near future. They believe that by 2014 we will see an increase in the use of malware in conflicts between nations; that there will be a successful breach at a major piece of infrastructure, such as a power plant; that military hardware, such as drones, will be hijacked with "real-world consequences."