Today my CPA firm put on a Cyber Security seminar for a couple hours…..
I learned a few new things but the one that was an eyeopener was Target. Do you remember when Target was hacked, it’s one of the largest hacks in this country…hundreds of millions of names, address, credit cards, pin numbers, etc. Target had a system that was impenetrable, locked beyond belief… But, they had a contractor for the HVAC that was allowed into their system to keep track of the performance of their heating units, correct problems remotely. The hacker got into the HVAC system and from there could easily get into the Target system! Now Target was on the liability for hundreds of millions…. This begs my continual question, and concern over having my two HVAC units accessed by NEXIA, how secure are they? That’s an Oxymoron, NO company that uses a Windows system is secure.. My two older units went out and were replaced with TRANE units that have a thermostat that is simply amazing…these jewels are not only controllable via mobil but they allow the technicians to remotely diagnose and often repair, upload firmware, etc etc…. BUT they are on the network, so Im a mini (very mini) carbon of the Target access point. I can move to thermostats that sit behind Apple’s HomeKit, very secure but kindergarten in functionality compared to the Trane thermostats that run the NEXIA access into my network. Those of you that have sweet dreams of these things, what can I do, and the next person that has to install a new HVAC system with a smart thermostat? Would you suggest not worrying about it but encrypting the hard drive, which would have to be done for each computer on the system….and what about the mobile, getting into an iPhone that was on the network would have much of the info that is on the desktop unit. Any thoughts? Thanks John _______________________________________________ MacGroup mailing list Posting address: [email protected] Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> Answers to questions: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup/>
