I include this link not so much because it's really pertinent to the average CIO or IT manager, but more just because it's kind of cool: now, just like in the movies, you can electronically hack into a physical device and cause it to explode.

The associated video isn't all that dramatic, but the capability is impressive-that thing is in a sealed test tank, only electronic bits are going in or out. Of course, if you are conditioned by Hollywood action movies, perhaps you don't find it all that dramatic, but really, this sort of thing hasn't been a particularly realistic security problem. Sure, there have been a handful of people who have been killed by software code, but for the most part, the machinery we have the capacity to program really doesn't have the ability to do much damage; unlike in "Runaway" your Roomba probably isn't going to come after you with a pair of garden shears, regardless of how menacing the software inside.

More critical systems tend to have mechanical or quasi-mechanical failsafes built in, and rarely is accessible remotely in any event-that's the real threat of hackers, right? If someone has physical access to a critical component, there are all sorts of other ways to mess it up anyway. So you can't telnet in to a 747 control system.

It's still the case that this is a relatively minor threat, but it may just be a harbinger of things to come-and I know, that's been said for years. But go look in your building's basement power center: do you have one of these sitting down there? It's enough to start you thinking.