Do We Consider Security Enough With Smart Devices?

Modern machines make your everyday life easier, but services that run on “intelligent devices”, such as B. lightbulbs or the use of voice activated devices can also be a form of “domestic violence”. You can say it.

Today, the lives of billions of people around the world have taken on a new shape in their homes. Floors and houses are now restricted to one place or space for them due to the closure of the work space, physical exercise, school space and their living space.

This also means that many of us spend a lot of time on modern devices, also known as smart devices, that are connected to the Internet and that we use in our voice or on our phones. Control over connected applications.

From virtual support for Amazon Alexa to Apple and Google Home, “Siri” and intelligent lightbulbs, kettles, surveillance camera systems and thermostats, now referred to as Internet Elements or “IoT”, control our lives. you are

Now our household items can already be checked over the Internet. These smart devices can now collect our personal information about when we use these items and how we use other internet-enabled items at home.

In 2017, an estimated 27 billion devices were used in different households that we could call internet products. With annual growth of 12%, the number of these elements will reach 150 billion by 2030.

The hope is that by automating everything with “smart devices” we will save time and energy. It is very difficult not to use news from all over the world with one of our voices, lightbulbs on or off or the thermostat to heat or cool our room at will. ۔

The goal of these devices is to make our lives easier, save time and protect us.

Take an internet camera that works with a doorbell that is now connected to many people’s homes. These cameras let you know who is at the door and you can talk to them even when you are not at home or when you are at no risk of getting coronavirus. This is.

These types of home automation devices reduce the risk of contracting the virus. According to ABI Research, a company that conducts technology marketing research worldwide, sales of smart devices are expected to grow by at least 30% due to the epidemic of the Corona virus. An entrepreneur said that a home with “smart devices” would be safer.

However, some people say that these “smart devices” that make our lives easier actually pose a threat to our lives, as these devices also become domestic violence devices.

Modern technology offers new opportunities to harass, control and harass perpetrators.

Although domestic violence and harassment can take many forms, technology offers new opportunities to harass, control, and harass criminals. In particular, a cell phone that allows you to monitor the activities of a child or partner without your knowledge and without your permission.

According to a 2018 research report by Cornell University in New York, the experts who developed software to monitor the activities of others knew that it could be used in this way. When asked by 11 software companies like Find My Phone or Child Safety whether their programs could be used to monitor a person’s activities without their permission, they said they knew they could be used. .

With the increase in the number of devices in our homes that can collect data or other information about our movements, such as For example, “IoT” or “Internet of Things”, this will likely create opportunities for domestic violence. Can do

Household hoods connected to the Internet, on which the cameras are mounted, can use these cameras to monitor anywhere in the world. The sensors in these hoods also indicate when someone has left or entered the house. Switching the automatic lamps on and off shows when a person has entered a room.

Locks connected to the Internet can prevent a homeowner from entering a room. You can also prevent someone from leaving the house. When you open the voice assistant data to see who gave what and when, the relationship between the residents of a house can be stressed.

All of these systems also have an administration account that allows one person to control all devices with a password. If you combine all of these aspects, you will find that a person’s smartphone accidentally gives them the ability to control the life of another person or of people in this house.

Leoni Tankzer, researcher and professor at the Gender and IoT Project at the University of London, said: “No Silo Valley IoT or IoT Maker thinks about technology misuse.” The University of London project examines how smart devices become domestic violence tools.

However, this is not always the case. Such a case in 2018, in which a person’s data was collected using internet products, resulted in an 11-month sentence. Russ Karen was convicted of spying on his angry wife, who collected his wife’s information from a microphone on the wall to turn the lights on in her living room on and off and heat the room. I was

When he heard his wife tell him that she no longer loved him, he went to fight at the door of the house where they lived together. “Oh, you don’t love me anymore,” he said to his wife, according to the lawsuit.

After that, the situation between the two got worse. Karen pushed his wife in front of their two children. He spat on the windshield of his car and insulted her.

Unfortunately, this case reflects this type of domestic violence. Although domestic violence has historically and traditionally been viewed as physical violence, our perception of domestic violence is changing rapidly.

Following the recent introduction of a domestic violence law in the British capital, Justice Robert Bookland said in a debate on the law that “the outdated concept of violent crime, including the usual type”. From the attack to the more serious crimes, the real nature of domestic violence is incomprehensible.

This includes secretly monitoring another person’s situation or influencing another person’s behavior by threatening to psychologically intimidate and harass someone, so that it initially looks like two identical people are the same. ‘one for the other. Living with it, but then we saw that one controlled the other. And all against the approval or will of the controller. Such situations will show that those under this control are actually victims of domestic violence.

Harassing others with technology is not limited to their activities or their coming and going. If intelligent technology enables multiple machines and devices in a house to control one person, it also removes these powers from the other people who live in the same house.

Monitoring a person’s activities quickly becomes a stalking process. And if there has been an invisible action so far, it becomes a concrete reality and a physical threat to the other. And in moments of anger, it can often become violent.

A third of women worldwide have experienced some form of violence from a close man who lives with them. There are always incidents like psychiatric illnesses, miscarriages or low birth weight or a weakened immune system against infectious diseases like HIV.

According to a report by the World Health Organization, 38% of women murdered worldwide are killed by their current or former spouses.

“Domestic violence is like a local epidemic,” said Louis Howard, professor of obstetrics at King’s College London. It’s more than people think. “”

Domestic violence is transmitted like a virus through close contact. According to a 2017 study published in Lebanon, children who experience violence at home are three times more likely to grow up and abuse their spouses.

According to another report from the World Health Organization, its member states reported that women had received phone calls in April last year complaining of cases of violence against close men. The number of calls has increased by 60%.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has warned that a six-month blockade could result in 30 million cases of sexual violence worldwide. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called it “a terrible increase in the frequency of domestic violence worldwide”.

We don’t know yet what he’ll do after leaving the post. Refugee, a UK-based charity, reported 920 cases of technology-related violence between January and August 2019. But it’s the only charity where abused women seek help. Refer to

Charities that work for female victims of domestic violence in the US reported that those who contacted them reported that their spouses used devices such as smart thermostats and smart speakers to torture them. Has been. The room temperature suddenly rises. At night the sound of the music suddenly starts to vibrate with a lot of noise. The code on the front door changes for no reason.

And the surge was observed on their cell phones, tablets, laptops and computers. Obviously, many people are not even aware of the spyware installed on their devices.

In today’s world, where there are superfast Internet and voice commands, there are ways to complain about the lack of hotlines for female victims of technological violence. They Are Less Refugee is the only charity in the UK that has its own team to help victims of technology-based violence.

Instead of helping affected women, these charities can increase the type of domestic violence. For example, a common suggestion is to change your password if you think someone is watching you.

In such a case, however, your travel companion will have more doubts if he detects that the password has been changed, and hostility between users of an account will also increase.

It can also be dangerous not to change your password after a break or to leave your old internet account. Harassment can take a long time, perhaps to know what you are doing and what you will do next, to go out with someone else, etc.

According to Tankser, there isn’t a single guide for all victims of IoT or technical violence who can follow and stay safe. However, when someone calls or asks for help, your assistant should not only be familiar with the latest software like Amazon Echo or Google Home Hub, but also understand who they are referring to. Depending on the type of situation, you can also estimate the risk they pose.

A similar system was developed in Australia. There, the Australian government, led by Julie Inman Grant, Commissioner for Electronic Security, has set up a system to help victims of all types of technology-related domestic violence as a center for women victims of violence. Talk to someone who understands IoT and has the latest information over the phone.

State of the art, the new legislation is not only a major challenge, but in many cases those who buy new technologies cannot decide for themselves what is acceptable for this new machine and what is not.

“Technology is changing and society is trying to keep up with change,” said Jason Nurse, a computer scientist at the University of Kent in England. When someone reads a book in a room, most people don’t go there, just turn off the lights and go. Because why would you do that? In the case of IoT, however, you can remotely turn off the light bulb and take advantage of the mischief.

The repetition of such incidents can lead to complaints about equal relationships. “There is usually a case where the little things repeat when you find that I am in an unhealthy relationship and that it is not a good relationship,” Tankzer says.

Before, you had at most one or two devices: your computer and your phone connected to the Internet. However, you now have multiple computers connected to the Internet. The connectivity issue is not covered here, and no one is trying to figure out what type of machine and what type of connectivity to bring home.

Many of the smart devices we use today are a bit silly. Its main function is the ability to connect to any other element of the house via a wireless connection. The “intelligent” label is bad for them.

But that is likely to change. Now that IoT systems are increasingly using artificial intelligence and automation is increasing, we all have to explain how they can be used and what they can do. Abuse can occur.

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