Google, one of the world's outstanding tech companies, was attacked. It wasn't its search engine that was attacked or its advertising platform or even its social network. Google⁺. Instead, it was a building.

    Two web security experts hacked (侵入) into its Wharf 7 office in Sydney, Australia, through Google's building management system (BMS). One of them, Billy Rios, says, “My colleague and I have lot of experience in web security, but it is not something that people couldn't learn. Once you understand how the system works, it is very simple.

    They found the system on Shodan, a search engine that lists devices connected to the Internet, and then ran it through their own software to identify who owned the building. In the case of the Google hacking, the researchers had no immoral purpose and just informed Google about what they found.

    According to Mr Rios, who runs security company Whitescope, there are 50, 000 buildings currently connected to the Internet, including research institutes, churches and hospitals, and 2, 000 of those are online with password protection, Martyn Thomas, a professor of IT at Gresham College in the UK, says, “It is beyond doubt that attempts to attack building management systems are happening all the time.”

    Making a building smart generally means connecting the systems that control heating, lighting and security to the Internet and the wider corporate network. There was a strong reason for doing this, said Andrew Kelly, principal security consultant at defence company Qinetiq.

    “Energy savings are the biggest factor in connecting building management systems to the corporate network,” he says. “It gives those who run the building better control and offers between 20% to 50% in energy savings,” he adds.

    But it also makes them less secure. And if any of these feels like a Hollywood filmy, think again.