07-13, 16:00–16:50 (US/Eastern), Marillac Auditorium
As the Internet of Things ages, a gap has emerged between the useful life of connected hardware devices (measured in decades) and the manufacturer-imposed "support lifespans" of the same products (measured in years). The result: useful and functioning devices - from laptops to smart home appliances to heavy equipment - are reaching an OEM-imposed "end of life" and being abandoned or even bricked by their makers. Businesses, consumers, communities, and our planet are left holding the bag: forced to choose between hosting vulnerable and unpatchable "EOL" devices within their environment, or sending perfectly functioning hardware to the landfill and spending to replace an otherwise functional device. In the meantime, malicious actors are rejoicing at a vulnerable population of hundreds of millions of EOL devices they can exploit and leverage in attacks via IoT botnets, such as those leveraged by cybercriminals and nation-state actors like the Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) Volt Typhoon.
In this panel discussion, leading experts from the cybersecurity and repair community will dig into the growing phenomenon of "bricked and abandoned" devices - everything from toothbrushes and streaming devices to robot vacuum cleaners. The panel will talk about what's driving the phenomenon of "abandonware" and about possible solutions - both market and policy based - to the problem that will help us build a secure and resilient future for the Internet of Things.
John Bumstead is a reuse and small business advocate who started the Apple refurbisher, RDKL, Inc. (Roadkill Incorporated) in 2008, which repairs and sells thousands of Apple products yearly. He is also a YouTuber focusing on retro computing and repair/reuse advocacy, and makes "glitch art" with broken computers.
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Lodrina Cherne is a recognized expert in digital forensics and incident response (DFIR), and a certified instructor at the SANS Institute, where she helps information security professionals advance their foundational understanding of digital forensics. With a bachelor's degree in computer science from Boston University, work as a technical researcher at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and as an Aspen Tech Policy Hub fellow, Lodrina has held senior positions at firms including Cybereason and Arsenal Consulting.
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Paul Roberts is the founder of Secure Repairs and president of the Secure Resilient Future Foundation (SRFF), a nonprofit organization of technology experts, tinkerers, and information security professionals that works to foster the creation of secure, transparent, resilient, and sustainable technology ecosystems. He is a cybersecurity journalist and advocate for a legal right to repair. Paul is a recognized expert on cybersecurity who has testified before the U.S. Congress. His writing has appeared in publications including Mother Jones, Forbes, The Christian Science Monitor, and MIT Technology Review. He has appeared on NPR's Marketplace Tech Report, KPCC's AirTalk, Fox News' Tech Take, Al Jazeera, and... wait for it... The Oprah Winfrey Show.
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Lucas Gutterman leads PIRG's Designed to Last campaign, fighting against obsolescence and e-waste and winning concrete policy changes that extend electronic consumer product lifespans and hold manufacturers accountable for forcing upgrades or disposal. He got his start as a PIRG student volunteer and organizing director where he helped register thousands of voters and win zero-waste campaigns to stop plastic pollution. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his partner, where he enjoys perfecting his espresso recipe.
