Here's one reason to avoid the so-called Internet of Things: Everyday items like lightbulbs become easy targets for hackers once they're connected to a network, meaning your mood lighting can quickly turn into a serious liability.Say you've purchased a Philips Hue system, which allows you to control the intensity and color of your lightbulbs via an app. You're sitting on the couch reading a book when suddenly a little drone flies next to your window. The lights go out and your app won't respond. You're stuck in the dark.
Best-case scenario, you're the only one in the area with smart lightbulbs. But if we're talking about a possible future a few years from now, your entire block — or neighborhood or city, even — might be vulnerable, and hackers could make the whole area go dark by accessing just your lightbulbs to begin with.Scary, right?
A video from earlier this year demonstrating how such an attack is possible is getting new attention thanks to a research paper publicized on Thursday. You can watch it above — essentially, it shows a drone flying up to a building and taking control of smart lightbulbs, which ends up looking like this:
