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, emotional technology, and humanity’s increasingly complicated relationship with machines.

Hackers built the Internet of Targets.

Every connected device expands the global attack surface: turning smart homes, appliances, cameras, vehicles, and everyday technology into permanent cybersecurity liabilities.

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

And society connected everything.

That expansion continues in Everything Will Become a Sensor, where ordinary objects increasingly become part of a nearly invisible network of continuous data collection.

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 most consumers barely understand the risks.

The smart-device revolution was built around convenience.

The tradeoff behind that design philosophy is explored further in The Convenience Trap, where frictionless technology gradually normalizes surveillance, dependency, and reduced control.

Not resilience.

That distinction matters.

Because convenience scales faster than security.

Now billions of devices quietly operate with:

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• outdated software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

One seemingly harmless example appears in Your Smart Lawn Mower Might Be a Hacker’s Back Door, where an ordinary household device can become an unexpected entry point into a larger network.

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

Modern cybersecurity increasingly means:

Protecting your entire connected environment.

That environment also includes the behavioral data described in Your Smart Home Knows Too Much, where connected devices collectively build detailed models of household routines.

Because every smart device expands the global attack surface.

And interconnected systems create cascading risk.

One vulnerable device can become:

• a network foothold
• a surveillance tool
• a credential leak
• an infrastructure pivot point

The danger is no longer isolated hacks.

It is systemic vulnerability at scale.

The systems behind that vulnerability are often difficult to see, a problem explored further in The Age of Invisible Infrastructure.

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

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

The future attack surface is not just digital anymore.

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:

Most connected devices are designed for:

• rapid adoption
• low friction
• data collection
• ecosystem lock-in

Security is often treated as a secondary feature.

Or worse:
a future software update.

Every smart device is also a permanent cybersecurity liability.

That does not mean society should reject connected technology.

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

The next phase of technological progress will not be defined by:
“How connected can we make everything?”

It will be defined by:
“How safely can society sustain what we connected?”

Should connected devices require stronger security standards before being sold?

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Bunker Rule

Every device connected to the internet is also connected to risk.

BUNKER NOTICE: A smart device does not need to contain valuable information to become dangerous. Sometimes its greatest value to an attacker is simply the doorway it provides into everything else.