From connected fridges to football clubs, just how vulnerable are the everyday technologies and data we rely on to cyberattacks?
It’s a question Felix Ryan, founder and ‘chief nerd’ of MediaCity-based cybersecurity consultancy You Gotta Hack That, tackled in a fascinating conversation with 39 Pictures founder and Prolific North journalist Stephen Chapman, filmed at MediaCity Studios before a cyberattack hit the headlines this week.
The discussion is particularly timely, as a cyberattack this week targeted hundreds of supermarket fridges in France, causing havoc and reportedly spoiling millions of pounds worth of food.
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Although filmed and produced long before the incident, the interview with Ryan saw him warn “we’re not taking this seriously enough” when it comes to the cybersecurity risks associated with connected devices.
But fridges weren’t the only thing in focus as Chapman also challenged Ryan to explain how a hacker might disrupt a football club, revealing the surprising and subtle ways that data, technology and physical infrastructure can leave major organisations vulnerable to pesky hackers.
Could hackers really disrupt a football club?
Felix Ryan’s company, You Gotta Hack That, essentially “pretends to be the bad guys”, helping organisations to make “good decisions in advance” by identifying vulnerabilities through penetration testing and threat simulation before genuine hackers can get there first.
Turning to Chapman’s hypothetical football club hacking challenge, Ryan wasn’t about to offer a how-to guide (so don’t worry, for any football clubs reading!). Instead, he explained how the growing reliance on data and technology behind the scenes could expose unexpected vulnerabilities, from training schedules and fan logistics to the wider supply chain.
“If we’re just trying to push someone over the edge, it’s probably a lot of little things rather than one big thing,” he explained.
Watch the full conversation between Felix Ryan and Stephen Chapman, filmed at MediaCity, below:
But cybersecurity risks go way beyond football clubs, in ways you might not always expect. While cybersecurity testing is relatively well established for traditional IT systems, Ryan warned that the same attention isn’t always given to the Internet of Things (IoT), including connected fridges and televisions, or operational technology such as power stations and commercial buildings.
“In my opinion, it’s way more interesting and way more impactful because you’ve got that blend of the cyber domain, which is very kind of difficult to grasp, and then you’ve got the physical stuff that happens as a result,” he explained.
Using fridges as an example, he said: “If you can stop that from regulating the temperature correctly where you make all the food go off really quickly, that’s really, really kind of simplistic in terms of the effect you’re having.
“If you do that on a really large scale with all of the fridges by the same manufacturer, suddenly you have a lot of food going off.”
Ryan warned that businesses are not necessarily taking the cybersecurity risks associated with connected devices seriously enough, pointing to how the UK has only just landed legislation for consumer grade IoT to have any form of cybersecurity.
He pointed to the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) legislation, which he says is “definitely a move forward”.
“All of these things have a massive impact. We’re not necessarily taking all of that seriously,” he added.
So should we all be worried? Don’t panic, Ryan says the world “isn’t actually on fire” and we just need to be aware of the risks.
“You might be caught in the crossfire of a bigger thing.But the chances are you’re not that interesting and it does take quite a lot of effort and time and a resource to make these things happen.”
The interview was produced by 39 Pictures at MediaCity Studios with undergraduates and graduates from University of Manchester and University of Salford.
