Monday, October 6, 2014
Long live Prince: Funk maestro delivers a double dose
pAGE 4
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leinster’s older heads need to start showing leadership
Look who’s back: Love/Hate returns
SpORT OpiniOn: pAGE 24
internet murder just a click away by GrahaM KeNt
Finally, a paper that has real bite
IT DID for vice-president William Walden in American drama Homeland. And the trick of hacking into a pacemaker to provoke a heart attack will soon be used to kill a reallife victim, experts fear. The first ‘online murder’ will be carried out by the end of the year, they predict – with diabetics using ‘smart’ insulin pumps also thought to be at risk. Criminals could threaten to tamper with medical devices to extort money. Other ways of exploiting the so-called ‘internet of everything’ to demand ransoms could include hacking into handrecognition software to lock people out of their homes or cars. European crime agency Europol said: ‘We must expect a rapidly growing number of devices to be rendered “smart” and thence to become interconnected. ‘It is equally inevitable that many of these devices will leave vulnerabilities, via which access to networks can be gained by criminals.’ The warning comes after former US vice-president Dick Cheney revealed he had turned off his pacemaker’s wireless function while in office. Mr Cheney said he had feared that the technique later used to bump off his fictional counterpart Walden in Homeland could have been deployed to kill him. Security company IID, whose research is quoted by Europol, said murder would be the next step after cases of blackmailed hacking victims being driven to suicide.
Vampires Camille Ross and Simon Coury catch up with Metro Herald in the dentist’s office while helping to launch the Bram Stoker Festival which will take place from October 24-27
Keep Dublin tidy – Please recycle this Metro Herald when you are finished with it