The microprocessor has done much more than fuel IT installations, PCs and laptops, smartphones and tablets. It's also allowed designers to build intelligence into a wide range of brute-force hardware devices. Modern refrigerators, automobiles, and home thermostats routinely have more MIPS and RAM than my first PC. Microprocessors allow utilities, manufacturers, and municipalities to control networks of smart machines. Factories, power-generation stations, water infrastructures, streetlights, hospitals, airports, and urban-transit networks are all increasingly monitored and controlled by dedicated computer systems. And those systems rely on the Internet for the flow of information and control.

This is all part of a vision that is sometimes called “the Internet of things.” The idea is that we can embed and distribute a little bit of intelligence into each of the myriad objects that surround us. Intelligent systems will prevent supermarkets from running out of popular items, or from ordering too much fresh produce, resulting in spoilage.

The good news is that computers can make processes and networks run more efficiently. They can help us save materials and energy. And of course, where there are microprocessors, there are employment opportunities for programmers.

But there's a downside, too. This year has seen the first major outbreaks of malware against the Internet of things. For example, the Stuxnet trojan was apparently an attack against Iran's nuclear program. It infected the computers that controlled five uranium enrichment plants, damaging their centrifuges by causing them to spin out of control. Hackers have published security holes in widely used supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems from Siemens. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security reports that the hacker group Anonymous has shown interest in hacking industrial systems that control critical infrastructure such as gas and oil pipelines, chemical plants, and water and sewage treatment facilities.

Many things must change before we can address this vulnerability in essential infrastructure. Most importantly, those responsible for running industrial and government installations must acknowledge that the threat against them is real. Until now, they have believed themselves to be safe because they run custom hardware, their systems are not well-known to the general public, and they are not connected to the Internet in the same way offices, individuals, and IT departments are. But none of this constitutes real protection. Real progress toward securing these installations will not be made until we acknowledge our vulnerability.

The potential for hackers to disrupt essential services – and even cause loss of life – is imminent and dire.

Web recommendation: It's not just nuclear waste recycling stations that face the threat of malware. Research shows that smartphones are starting to show up on the radar screens of the hacker community – and not in a good way. The researchers at Juniper Network have completed a report showing a 472 percent increase in malware infection on the Android platform since July 2011. The figures are a little misleading – the infection rate for phones is much lower than for Windows PCs, even after a half-year of explosive growth. But it's certain that smart phones in general – and Android devices in particular – are now subject to infectious malware. Juniper summarizes its report here. J.D. say check it out.

J.D. Hildebrand has written hundreds of articles for dozens of publications and online communities dedicated to software development. He thinks marrying sauces to the right kind of pasta is a subtle and demanding artistic specialty