syssec_red_book

2. Introductiondrones), such sensors will record a wealth of information and will be anattractive target for attackers.• Embedded Systems. It is expected that cars and objects of everydayuse will have a large number of processors that will give them (more)autonomous operation and thus will make them subject to an increasingnumber of attacks.• SmartEnvironments. The automation and “smart” operation promisedby such environments will give more opportunities for attacks, as well asprivacy concerns.• Legacy Systems. Although modern systems are implemented in environmentsthat discourage software vulnerabilities, a large part of oursoftware was written several years ago when security was not the mainconcern.• Critical Infrastructures. These may turn out to be one of the largestchallenges faced by cyber security researchers. When Critical Infrastructureswere isolated from the Internet, it was extremely difficult toattack them, especially without help from an insider. However, as CriticalInfrastructures are being connected to the rest of the cyberspace, theypresent a high-value and more easily reachable target for attackers.• Mobile Systems. The widespread use of mobile phones and the recentemergence of location-aware smart-phones has given rise to new interestingattacks on the security and privacy of users. Compromising amobile phone is no longer about dialing a few high-premium numbersand charging the user extra roaming costs. It is about eaves-droppingon all the user’s conversations; it is about “following” each and everyfootstep of the user; it is about having access to the most personal aspectsof the users’ lives.• Wireless Networks. It has been said that children born in 2012 willnot understand why we need “wires” to communicate. This is so true.Most of our communications today are wireless giving attackers theopportunity to jam them, to intercept them, to monitor them and (whynot?) to modify them.• Implantable Devices. As IT is integrated into medical care, it givesattackers more opportunities to compromise security and privacy. Implantabledevices, for example, on which the patient’s life depends,have been shown to be subject to battery draining and other attacks,threatening the lives of the individual patients.14