Insidious creep

Wow, it sure looks like EVERYONE wants a chance to sit
inside your firewall!
Rescued another UPS, today.  It pitches a remote service
that they want you to sign up for -- free updates,
remote power monitoring, etc.
Of course, to do so, you've got to let it talk to the
outside world.
And, now you've got a pwnplug that can be controlled from
that outside world!
Of course, any previous UPS with a NIC could snoop your
internal traffic.  But, an SysAdm worth his salt would
block said device(s) from outgoing traffic.
OTOH, if the vendor cons^Hvinces you to willingly open
that door...
It's sure gonna be fun when some actor decides to really
take down our infrastructure -- by pwning those vendors
and all of the kit that they control!  <frown>