The Internet of Targets

We built the Internet of Things.

Part of the Signals From the Future collection — observations on AI society, synthetic reality, digital culture, Chatrodamus Prophecies, emotional technology, and humanity’s increasingly complicated relationship with machines.

Hackers built the Internet of Targets.

Every connected device can expand the attack surface, turning smart homes, appliances, cameras, vehicles, and everyday technology into additional systems that must be secured and maintained.

That may become one of the defining cybersecurity realities of the AI era.

Because every connected device creates:

• another endpoint
• another vulnerability
• another software dependency
• another possible entry point

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Everything Became Connected

And society started connecting almost everything.

That expansion is only accelerating. In Everything Will Become a Sensor, I explore what happens when ordinary objects stop being passive things and become part of an enormous network that observes, measures, and collects data.

Not just computers.

Everything.

• TVs
• refrigerators
• robot vacuums
• thermostats
• cameras
• doorbells
• watches
• cars
• lawn mowers
• medical devices
• industrial systems
• city infrastructure

The modern world is becoming a planet-sized mesh network of permanently connected systems.

And ordinary consumers were never expected to become cybersecurity experts just to operate everyday appliances.

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Convenience Scaled Faster Than Security

The smart-device revolution was built around convenience.

Not resilience.

That distinction matters.

Because convenience scales faster than security.

Across the enormous global population of connected devices, security problems can include:

• weak firmware
• outdated software
• default passwords
• poor patching
• hidden telemetry
• invisible cloud dependencies

These aren’t merely theoretical concerns. The New Jersey Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Cell warns that Internet of Things devices can introduce security and privacy risks and recommends measures such as changing default credentials, keeping devices updated, securing networks, and reviewing device privacy and security settings.

And the weak link doesn’t have to look dangerous. In Your Smart Lawn Mower Might Be a Hacker’s Back Door, I look at how something as harmless-looking as a robot lawn mower can raise much larger questions about access, security, and the devices we allow onto our home networks.

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Cybersecurity Is No Longer Just Your Computer

Most people think cybersecurity means:
“Protecting my laptop.”

Modern cybersecurity increasingly means:

Protecting your entire connected environment.

Security isn’t the only concern inside that connected environment. In Your Smart Home Knows Too Much, I explore how separate household devices can also generate pieces of information that, together, reveal surprisingly detailed patterns about how we live.

Because every additional connected device can expand the attack surface.

And interconnected systems create cascading risk.

One vulnerable device can become:

Depending on the vulnerability and network configuration, a compromised device could potentially become:

• a foothold into a larger network
• a surveillance tool
• a source of exposed credentials or data
• a stepping stone toward other connected systems

The danger isn’t limited to isolated hacks.

That broader threat environment is documented in CrowdStrike’s 2026 Global Threat Report, which examines how modern attackers are adapting their methods as digital environments become more interconnected and complex.

Interconnected systems can also create vulnerability at scale.

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When Cyberattacks Enter the Physical World

This becomes even more dangerous as AI systems gain deeper integration into:

• homes
• transportation
• utilities
• logistics
• healthcare
• communications
• public infrastructure

The attack surface is no longer purely digital.

As homes, vehicles, utilities, and public systems become increasingly connected, the line between a cyberattack and a physical-world disruption begins to disappear.

It is physical.

And here is the uncomfortable truth:

Connected products are often competing on things consumers can immediately see:

• ease of setup
• convenience
• features
• integration
• price

Security, meanwhile, is often much harder for the buyer to evaluate.

Or worse:

a future software update.

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Chatrodamus Predicts

Every smart device also becomes a continuing cybersecurity responsibility.

That does not mean society should reject connected technology.

But it does mean we need to stop pretending convenience alone is innovation.

That’s the bargain at the center of The Convenience Trap: technology keeps removing friction from our lives, while the security, privacy, dependency, and control we’re trading for that convenience can remain largely invisible.

The next phase of technological progress may increasingly be defined not by:

“How connected can we make everything?”

But by:

“How safely can society sustain what we connected?”

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