However, we hear about organizations spying on their neighbors. And — what a surprise —they are using every opportunity and capability for this. Now it’s up to you and me to wonder what is going to happen with all these interconnected systems? They are probably an easy target for unwelcome interception. Even if only a small proportion of the interconnected devices are used in industrial systems, there is still a huge opportuity to spy on in order to gather information on intellectual property, covert industrial methods and other secrets that can be used in worldwide competition. Jacob Appelbaum, a friend of Edward Snowden, suggests that Europeans build solutions on free hard and software designed, maintained and verified in Europe. As these systems — in contrast to proprietary solutions, which don’t reveal their core technology and their hidden backdoors — are open and easy to understand for experts. Off-shore solutions which are opaque cannot be really conceived and controlled in detail. And as such they are precarious and risky. Even if we are not plagued by paranoia we should listen to Jacob Appelbaum.
