Spamming fridges and remote hijackings - pitfalls of a digital world

It has to be annoying when your fridge sends spam without your knowledge, but how would you feel if a hacker with a smartphone disabled your car brakes or even remotely hijacked your plane?

Those security-risk scenarios may not be as far-fetched as you think. Indeed, a fridge has already been caught sending spam.

Security provider Thinkpoint said last month it had uncovered more than 750,000 malicious emails from more than 100,000 everyday consumer gadgets such as home-networking routers, multi-media centres, televisions, and at least one refrigerator.