Security Experts have discovered that world’s best-known robots are vulnerable to cyber attacks. This includes childlike Pepper Robots, Baxter Robot, and the robotic hotel receptionists.
IOActive, a Seattle-based cyber security company has found these facts in a study made by its researchers. The company adds that after hacking, cyber crooks can use these artificial human beings for spying on their users, expose trade secrets, burgle homes and even cause physical harm by manipulating the movement of their arms and legs.
As humans are slowly being replaced by Robots in various jobs, experts predict that this could spell a doomsday for the human race in coming years.
And as per a study made by IDC, spending on robots and related services could double to $135 billion by 2019. Means, a quarter of the manual jobs done by humans will then be done by Robots.
If suppose, a robot is employed to protect an individual or organization, hackers can tweak the functions of the machine in such a way that it could do more harm than good.
And if this happens, then this is going to put the entire human race into trouble….isn’t it?
Cesar Cerrudo, the CEO of IOActive Labs, which specializes in discovering flaws in devices related Internet of Things, said that he is now more concerned about robots being connected to the internet with no thought over cyber security.
He added that once users start using robots for home and businesses purposes, the threat of cyber attack could increase exponentially.
IoActive said that it has gathered enough evidence that Robots can be influenced by hackers if the manufactures choose to ignore the standards related to the machines safety & security rules.
Remember, the movie Terminator and after-series which showed us the consequences on how robots can be utilized to destruct human race by manually meddling with their hardware and work functions.
Then why can’t a hacker take charge of a web-connected robot and use it to cause more harm to humans?
IoActive has so far tested 50 robots and has informed their manufacturers of the flaws it has found in their devices. This includes the robot manufacturing companies like Ubtech Robotics, Robotics, Universal Robots and Sartec Corp.
Universal Robots company has made it official that it is aware of the report forwarded by IoActive and said that it will investigate on the specified vulnerabilities and will soon work out on potential countermeasures.
Other companies which produce robots are yet to comment on the issue.
