Marc Andreessen had it right – software has eaten the world. As a result, the world can be hacked.
Just look at the past few months. The SolarWinds caper – the “largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen” according to Microsoft president Brad Smith – gave its Russian perps months of free reign across untold US government agencies and private companies. But stupid also works: Last month in Florida, a water treatment plant’s cybersecurity was so lax, anyone could have been behind a clumsy attempt to poison the local water supply. Meanwhile, miscreants bearing ransomware have made hospitals their favorite target; in October 2020, six US hospitals fell prey within 24 hours.
