The latest cybercrimes aren’t committed by any odd cyber criminal. Welcome to the age of AI cybercrime.

Today I had a brief discussion with someone who read my last post ‘get a room,’ and our conversation strayed to the recent WannaCry attacks.

Just one victim of this attack is the British health care system. In my opinion, this is a far cry from a non-malicious attack. The hospital? Where people already suffer? But there are reasons that made this an easy target. One, simply because its systems are dated. The operating systems haven’t been changed, updates haven’t been made, and known vulnerabilities weren’t addressed. All in all, software ‘infrastructure’ is lagging in a time where technological updates are critical to protecting information and institutions.

I imagine that for now, the WannaCry attacks are read like most news stories. Out of sight, out of mind, but the possibilities of attacks such as this reaching closer to home are increasing as people move towards the use of smart devices at home.

Remember, anything is hackable. For now, malware is fairly comprehensible, but what happens when we use AI to defend and execute cyber attacks? There is no rulebook to this game, and no border that can keep out cyber criminals whether human, or AI.

Imagine coming home one day and all your smart devices are under the control of an Goggled Google, or Serial Siri or some AI other than what you are used to. Soap suds may be everywhere from your automatic smart dispenser, taps may be running, lights flickering, toaster toasting. It may sound funny, but think of all the damage it can cause, and yes, this is just at the home. No big deal.

On CBC radio (quirks and quarks) I listened to news of an AI based cyberattack that led soldiers in Afghanistan to believe their commander was sending them information to meet up at a certain location, but it wasn’t their commander, it was a cyberattack.

From home to far away battlefields, cybercrime is on the rise. Be smart about your smart-devices and their capabilities.

Ps. I’m still all for smart devices. I tend to be optimistic in action, and cautionary in critique. I read on a shirt yesterday “I’m smiling because I have no idea what’s going on.” My motto is more like, keep in mind what’s going on, and keep smiling too. YOLO.