You’re probably recalling where you were the first time you heard Sting and The Police, or what the funky red graphics were on the cover of that album. That’s what most folks recall. We are, after all, Spirits in the Material World. The expression was actually coined by Gilbert Ryle in his 1949 book The Concept of Mind, an examination of Rene Descartes’ dualistic separation of mind and body. At the core of this philosophical marvel is the notion that the mind and body work independently of one another, and their connection is speculative at best. This concept takes on new relevance in the digital world.

Descartes Before De Horse

The wonder of the technology driving the emergence of self-driving cars is the possibility, or probability, that computers will cause fewer accidents than human drivers. Imagine, though, a really bad computerized driver, one that takes over control of the car and does whatever it wants, leaving you powerless to control it.

This is no longer a thought experiment. A recent Wired article takes us down that road, an actual road with an actual Jeep being controlled by hackers on a laptop many miles away from the actual driver’s seat. The body’s presence in the Jeep is not connected with the mind controlling the systems and functions of the Jeep. There is a Ghost in the Machine.

There’s an App for That

The Internet of Things connects new devices to each other every minute of every day, and your organization is vulnerable to just about all of them, even those apps used by your staff to enhance their driving experience. ICS suggests a web application assessment to identify threats of unauthorized access, so you can keep your sensitive information safe and secure no matter how many web-based applications your organization is using.

Let ICS harness and eliminate the ghosts in your machine today, before they drive your Jeep into the ditch.