IoT Devices and Zombie Mushrooms - It's Time

They are small, they are out there everywhere, they are supposed to help the tree trunk. But what if the tiny creatures we celebrate as IoT sensors and devices are hijacked by a mind-control fungus? Let's remove the 'if'. Here's why

- Pratima H

Ants are intelligent. That's why they thrive even in the most inhospitable environments. They have their specific jobs inside a colony. But they also know how to work together.They have two stomachs - one for the food they eat and one to share with other ants. And, of course, they are so tiny. But that's where their strength and network power lie.

That's exactly what comes to one's mind while marvelling at the ease, scale and elegance with which IoT devices and IIoT sensors have spread all around enterprises. Hard to see from the central tower, these little pixies are busy doing their work on the tiny branches and ant-hills across the forest of an enterprise's operations. They can communicate with others- and splendidly. They can stomach data for the specific spot's needs but can also help other central processes, when needed. Be it a factory, a water utility or a huge farm - these smart machines are silently doing their job of data collection and processing - snugly wrapped around those machines, those far-off taps and those sprinklers.

Until they meet zombie fungi.

In other words. Cordyceps. Yes, that very specific and dangerous kind of fungus species that's known to take over an ant's body and brains-living inside them, eating them hollow and then attaching spores inside the ant's bodies so that they travel and spread the infection far and wide. The world of mycology also, sometimes, calls them 'mind-control mushrooms'. And not the ones, you get on the hills with a Brownie.

In a weird twist of fate, the small, smart and graceful; but innocent, unassuming and unprepared ants of the enterprise world have also been infected by the Cordyceps of cyber-attack fungi. If the last few months are given a gandereven if not under a microscope- it's clear how IoT devices are turning into weak, vulnerable and easy targets for cyber-attackers.