Online devices are borders without effective defence

Why is everybody so enthusiastically embracing the possibility of coupling ever more devices to the internet? And this even more as we enter the 5G semi-paradise with its even better possibilities of letting all sorts of things work efficiently and quickly online. It is especially strange that this is happening at the same time as governments and intelligence agencies are fearing espionage and what is worse from Huawei and Putin, and when everybody should know that spying by the Americans has for a long time been a fact.

Every responsible governmental  administration should be aware of the possible dangers. For every new device which goes online a new badly protected flank is added.

Of course it is of limited importance if a coffee machine is hacked or destroyed. But many other devices are more crucial. This could be equipment for medical purposes or the control of transportation, distribution and transmission of communication, administration, mobile phone communication, radio and TV transmission, or drones or cars just to mention some areas. Not least important is the production and distribution of energy.

It is thoughtless and stupid to allow the proliferation of equipment and activities which are depending on the internet. This no matter who is expected to carry out the hacking or to inflict damage. It creates an increased vulnerability for private and public organizations, service providers and producers. Whole societies become more and more easy to hurt (also by things like strong electromagnetic pulses no matter their origin). There is no such thing as a 100% effective defence against digital warfare. It is deeply problematic that politicians  unconsciously let their countries slide into an ever greater dependance on IT accessible from or dependent on cyberspace. Often just because users and providers want it, or commercials praise it, or because it is new and smart.

Thus a government with a sense for the security of important sectors of society  and the whole of the country can not allow the decisions about whether to let devices go online to be made by market mechanisms  or wishes for convenience. In countries with a will to defend themselves a governmental commission with experts in security in the different branches of society must be established, a commission with the task of deciding whether a piece of equipment is too important to be allowed to go online. Guidelines for these decisions should be made. Producers and users which plan the implementation of new online devices or categories of such devices must ask this commission, which should have the  power to prohibit the implementation of such equipment.