First 'online murder' to happen by end of 2014: Report

London: The Internet was conceptualised with a vision to connect people across geographies. However a recent study suggests, that with the advent of Internet of Everything, the web poses a greater physical damage to online users. The Europol threat assessment published last week cited a report by US security firm IID that predicted the first murder via “hacked internet-connected device” will be conducted by the end of 2014.

The report, first spotted by The Independent,  addresses the dangers posed by the so-called ‘Internet of Everything’ — a new era of technological interconnectedness in which everything from garage doors to hospital health systems will be linked and controlled through computer networks.

The Europol assessment states, “The IoE is inevitable. We must expect a rapidly growing number of devices to be rendered “smart” and thence to become interconnected. Unfortunately, we feel that it is equally inevitable that many of these devices will leave vulnerabilities via which access to networks can be gained by criminals.”

The report also suggested that this could also give birth to new forms of extortion and blackmail through connected devices, including locking people out of their smart cars and homes before payment of a ransom. It said that new systems would increasingly rely on facial and speech recognition for security that were open to abuse without up-to-date security in place.