LOOK OUT - HE'S GOT A PHONE!

“Those words aren’t yet a cliché on TV crime dramas, but security experts agree that it’s only a matter of time before smartphones become the smart person’s weapon of choice.”

By: Charles C. Mann

Published: Vanity Fair; December 19, 2012;  http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/12/microcomputers-weapons-smartphone
Level of difficulty: ***

Note to the student: This is an easy level *** so you may want to make this one of the first ones you do.

BEFORE YOU READ

·         For what purposes are smartphones currently used ?

·         For what purposes could they be used in the future to help mankind?

·         For what evil purposes could they be used?

QUESTIONS

1.       Why did Barnaby Jack forbid photographs and leave out details of his research?

2.       How exactly had Barnaby Jack upgraded the current method of checking and adjusting pacemakers and defibrillators?

3.       If Jack’s device were to be used on an actual patient, what would the result be?

4.       Why exactly did Jack “direct an implantable insulin pump to deliver a lethal dose” and “hack an ATM to spray out bills”?

5.       Jack envisions smartphones being used for …………………………………………………………………………….

6.       The major advantage of using smartphones to monitor patients is that ……………………………… ; the major disadvantage is that ………………………………………………………………………………………………

7.       What proof is offered to support Jack’s view that hackers would use this new system to harm individuals? Be specific.

8.       Which phrase in the paragraph beginning “Smartphones taking control” best summarizes the paragraph?

9.       What is the function of the paragraph beginning “The embrace of a new technology”?

10.   TBMS has been installed in all new cars since 2007 in order to prevent ………………………………….

11.   What surprising comparison does the writer make in the paragraph beginning “By itself…”?

12.   A security research team from Intertrust technologies describes today’s cars as  “full time residents of cyber space scarcely distinguishable from any other computational node, P.C., tablet or smartphone” because ………………………………………………………………………………………………

13.   What conclusion can be drawn from the information concerning the time pressure monitoring system?

14.   Read the experiments conducted by researchers from The University of Washington and The University of California. What was their purpose in conducting the experiments? There are two answers; find both.

15.   What makes smart homes just as vulnerable as regular houses? The fact that……………………..

16.   The smart meters will save time and have environmental benefits but will also give companies the opportunity to ……………………………………………………………………………….

17.   Researchers at the university of Massachusett  were able to make some surprising discoveries thanks to smart meters. What were they?

18.   Smart meters could black out entire neighborhoods, effect central controls and even kill people because ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

19.   What grave mistake is everyone making by hurrying to computerize everything in a home?

20.   The fact that currently very few people could in fact carry out hacking on the scale described in the text should not be a reason to ignore them because…………………………………………………….

21.   Currently, there are A.E.D’s in many public places. What enables them to be hacked? What is the most devastating effect of the hacking?

22.    Read the paragraph beginning “In a way…” What conclusion can be drawn from this paragraph?

23.   Now read the following paragraph carefully. What conclusion can we draw from this paragraph?

24.   How easy is it to launch an attack on medical device’s software? How do you know?

25.   Which paragraphs form the conclusion of the text? How do you know?

WRITING TASK

Write a four paragraph essay discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the potential uses of smartphones discussed in the text. It is suggested you seek out some related videos first and take notes.

The Advantages that are stated in the text are as follows:

Saving time, being environmentally friendly, saving effort, efficiency, being potentially life saving

The disadvantages that are stated in the text are as follows:

Being easy to hack and having potentially dangerous and even fatal consequences

LOOK OUT – HE’S GOT A PHONE KEY AND TEACHER’S NOTES

This futuristic text outlining the potential future uses and dangers of smartphones, probably the most widely popular gadget on the planet at the moment, should be intriguing to the current generation. I have a lot of questions because this blog is designed for self study mainly and I need to make sure nothing is missed.

1.       He was (so) worried about the implications of his research.

2.       Jack had discovered how to signal an ICD from 30 feet away.

3.       He would die. The fatal episode would be blamed on malfunction is an interpretation of the result; not the result as far as the patient goes, which is what the question is all about.

4.       Because trouble making is what he is paid to do at 10Active. He is a man who is quite literally looking for trouble won’t do because it gives the impression that he is your common sociopath.

5.       The manipulation of medical devices.

6.       Doctors can alter treatment regimens remotely; the new devices could put the management of an individual’s internal organs in the hands of every hacker, online scammer and digital vandal on Earth.

7.       Anonymous vandals inserted flashing animated images into an epilepsy foundation online forum triggering…

8.       The spread of networking technology into every aspect of life.

9.       It is a bridge paragraph signaling the start of a new section of the text.

10.   (A new form of crime) carjacking by tire.  The word “prevent” signals that you need something negative and TBMS is a safety device. Nothing else will fit. Tire problems won’t fit because this device doesn’t prevent them; it just reports them.

11.   Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner makes do with about 18 million lines of code.

12.   Many of the overlapping functions can be activated from outside. This is a tough question. One point: the rest of the paragraph is support; a long list of examples all of which you can’t write.

13.   Every car tire is in effect a homing device and people 130 feet from an automobile can talk to it through its tires.

14.    To prove that TPMS systems are not reliable or safe; there was nothing to stop them. These two answers cover all the experiments, not just one.

15.   They are connected to the internet; the computer systems in the house are also a point of entry for online intruders.

16.   Cut power to non paying customers at the flick of a switch.

17.   How many were in each dwelling, when they were using their computers, coffee machines, toasters, what movies people were watching.

18.   The smart meter is vulnerable to viruses, worms and other internet perils. Lack of firewalls won’t do!

19.   They are not thinking about possible risks.

20.   It is in the nature of software to get easier to use and more widely available.

21.   The fact that they are updated with windows based software on a USB stick; taking over nearby hospital computers

22.   When staffers are careless, hospital security problems can be difficult to fix.

23.   Even when staffers aren’t careless hospital security problems can be difficult to fix

24.   Vey easy. You simply have to call them repeatedly.

25.   The last two. They go beyond the content of the text and reach out to the future.