Cybersecurity

My son is gaming. The door of his room is open and I hear him laughing and talking to a friend. They discuss game tactics via Discord and occasionally talk about something personal. The friend is miles away, in his own room. For these young teenagers this is the most normal thing in the world. In computer science he learns how to program games himself: which goes very well, because he likes it. But there is more homework to do.  

Most of it is online, partly in the form of games, and has to be handed in via the cloud. But it's an unequal game: the games he plays are so much better at keeping attention, motivating people to continue, at seducing and rewarding the (adolescent) brain. Just like 'Quizlet', which should help him to automate words. There is still a lot to learn about gamification. 

In factories, production processes are becoming increasingly automated and coordinated. The robots are becoming more advanced, thanks to technologies such as artificial intelligence and vision technology. The industry embraces this progress, which reduces failure costs and enables more efficient production. Robotisation and far-reaching automation make 'reshoring' possible: bringing back activities from abroad to the Netherlands. And it fits in with the trend of 'slowbalisation', in which multinationals no longer concentrate their production in one place in the world (often China), but on a continent-by-continent basis: so that producers have lower transport costs and are less affected by trade barriers.

Barriers are indeed fewer and fewer, ... also for criminals who want to take a look at your factory. The designs increasingly take into account food safety and whether the equipment and cobots are safe for the personnel. But the cyber security of most robots, devices and digital systems is in bad shape. Too much equipment turns out to be quite easy to hack. This makes our society and businesses vulnerable. Your secrets can just lie on the street (or in the cloud) tomorrow. Do you think you are not in danger? That it won't happen that quickly?

At my son's school, a third-class student managed to hack into the digital locker system. Bam! Just before the break, he opened all the doors at once. A bad boy's stroke, mischief. Child's play.