We never liked the thought of having smart things. It's uncomfortable to think that something that one could carry on a palm could accomplish something far better than us humans could. Sadly, there are things that we created that could outperform our limited physical and weary souls. Yes, we acknowledge limitations because that is also the very foundation of what we are trying to achieve at Net Safety PH. There's only so much we can do to help inform people on how to better protect themselves against the dangers an increasingly connected world.
We talked about things that we created or designed to outperform us, but it doesn't really start out that way. At first, it's simply to make our lives easier. Sometimes, it also starts out as some personal automation for a personal problem but all of a sudden gets applied to everybody else's somewhat related problem.
Most of them are fantastic features that makes it our daily lives.
- Instead of visiting a friend's home or dropping by, how about a way to talk to them without seeing them?
- Now that we can talk to them without dropping by their place, how about seeing them on the screen?
- Instead of a lengthy email process, how about short message to send to people we know?
- Instead of going to the grocery store to purchase a refill for our laundry detergent, how about just a simple button and it gets delivered to us?
- Instead of memorizing birthdates of people that matter to us. We store them in our smartphones and have our device automatically remind us of those dates.
These little things all together do make life easier, and the ones mentioned above are just among the many things technology has become part of our daily lives. Additionally, the automation or service it provided is reliable enough to depend on them. But have you ever thought about it being used against us?
No? Sadly, they are being used against us and has long been used against us. As there are too many to list everything here, we'll simply point out in the same order as the list above how they are used against us.
- The cameras (including internet connected cameras) on our internet connected devices can be turned-on without us knowing, and therefore can be recorded.
- Our microphones are being used to record conversations, ambient sounds, and including keystrokes to collect passwords.
- SMS based scams are on the rise.
- Shopping scams will be more common in the coming years.
- Data collection is now easier than ever. Collateral damage for "Innocent By-Standers" from targeted attacks will pile and eventually lead to a development of private citizen's dossier.
If the few things above doesn't scare you enough to think twice about your Internet Safety, then it's a long road ahead for us.
It doesn't really an expert to tell you how Internet of Things in its present form is very unsafe. Here's two links that could help you understand the issue better.
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