Madness At The Highest Level

erikah(83)

Published in

The Pub

Words

867

Reading

4 min

Listen

Play

11h

There's something I can't get out of my head and as I see, this thing is going to get worse and at some point affect most of the population at some level.

Two years ago I think it was, when I bought a new entrance door and had my entrance hall renovated after that. The guy who did the work was recommended to me, we didn't know each other, but he made sure to show off with what he's done in his apartment hoping he can make himself greater than I was. This is sheer stupid honestly as there wasn't a competition, but some people feel the need to show off, to feel superior.

Photo by Adam J on Unsplash

Anyway, what he was most proud of was his smart home system, to which he had almost all appliances and machines connected. He made sure to explain to me as if I were a two-year-old, that it's all running on Wi-Fi and remotely operated. Yes, most likely he thought I'm completely illiterate, but that's fine by me. What didn't realize was the danger he was exposing himself to. Not with me, don't get me wrong, but if he was able to share so much with me, just to feel superior, he must have been doing this with everyone he met and that's where he made his own self and family vulnerable.

Hundreds of French supermarkets have been hit by a cyber attack that caused their fridges and freezers to heat up, spoiling fresh and frozen food estimated to be worth millions of euros. Hackers gained control of the software that regulates the temperatures of the refrigeration units, forcing some to warm to 50C (120F) overnight, according to one supermarket chain affected.

Photo by Jose Fontano on Unsplash

This is the news of today, or at least one piece of news, a shocking one as far as I am concerned. This clearly shows that hackers are not just stealing, draining funds, but causing damages anyway they can. No need to block the system, when they can destroy millions of euros worth goods.

The other shocking, although not exactly unexpected news was about Ledger supply chain being compromised in Europe as well. Ledger has been in deep 💩 for some time, we've been witnessing scandal after scandal, one security breach after the other and this seems to never end.

I remember five or six years ago when I was thinking of buying a device and the two names on top of the list were Ledger and Trezor, Ledger obviously topping the list for some reason, although they already had a security breach behind them. I don't know why exactly, but those who opted for Trezor were looked down on, considered second class as Ledger was the God in this regard.

Photo by Kaffeebart on Unsplash

Since then, Ledger had several security incidents and today you have to be quite nuts to buy one. Looks like all the resellers have been affected by this security breach.

Following recent supply-chain incidents, we decided to reduce the number of resellers so we can more effectively check those we work with.

Let us be very clear: there is not a single piece of evidence that Trezor devices have been compromised.

This is a preventive step, taken out of an abundance of caution. We also want to thank everyone involved for the cooperation, and for the years of work putting Trezor in people’s hands.

I can't bet my life on it, but at least Trezor is acting instead of sleeping on it. They are taking measures in order to avoid getting the same faith as Ledger.

Photo by Shane on Unsplash

Bottom line here is that no one is safe and if you choose to show off, instead of keeping a low profile, especially when you're not a genius in this regard, you can only blame yourself in case something bad happens. Unfortunately some people need to learn the hard way as learning from other people's mistake is not for them.

I was quite happy to play dumb and not disclose anything to him, as basically it's my private business how I handle my devices and digital life and safety means more to me than showing off. People who live for social validation and buy or do things mostly for others to see, won't last long. Imagine working for a number of people and showing off everywhere with what's in your home ... Guess where this leads.

One thing is certain. If you don't protect yourself, no one will.

Stay safe!