Incompatible: Privacy & The Internet of Things
Video surveillance is now considered an IoT application, and cameras often come packaged integral with house-hold automation systems.
The controversial role of surveillance, which extends beyond video to other forms of home automation monitoring, has led some to decry IoT as the enemy of privacy.
Home surveillance may make it easier to keep tabs on pets, small children, and the elderly, but it also makes it easier to spy on each other, threatening traditional bonds of trust but also there is Blockchain that decentralises the working platforms and makes a cyber-attack far more difficult to achieve and this adds protection to IoT networks.
Recently Bosch and Volkswagen have connected to the IOTA Foundation and are going to use a Distributed Ledger Technology which is a crypto-currency designed for the Internet of Things and created by IOTA. Bosch said in November 2018 that it wants to use the non-profit IOTA with camouflaged communications channels as it said that logistics is a massive manufacturing global industry and most industries have gone through significant change and innovation but the logistics is too slow.
“It can be said that any use case is feasible where the Bosch XDK measures sensor data, and there are potential buyers for this data,” Bosch explains.
“Blockchain technology makes it possible to generate and store all the necessary documents online on a single platform accessible to all. Since all the parties have access to the same information, there will be far fewer disputes and reconciliation problems, so the process will be quicker and more efficient.”
IOTA says “Enabling the true Internet-of-Things through the Machine Economy
The number of connected devices that will be in use is estimated to reach 75 billion by 2025. From tiny sensors on roads and bridges to wearable electronics, mobile phones, and more, every day the world is becoming more and more interconnected”.
“People and machines can transfer money and/or data without any transaction fees in a trustless, permission-less, and decentralised environment.”
IOTA is established as “the main currency for machines,” the organisation claims.
Automotive uses for Blockchain-like Ledgers
Volkswagen has also been surveying IOTA for blockchain, and other alternative-technology distributed ledgers, include authenticating mileage use.
There are of course a number of other distributed ledger technology companies and Hyundai’s blockchain system allows processing of payments over Bitcoin and integrates other blockchain networks.
Where is IoT going next?
Even those who have purchased one of the myriad smart home products, from lightbulbs, switches, to motion sensors, will attest to the fact IoT is in its infancy.
Products don't always easily connect to each other and there are significant security issues that need to be addressed.
A report from Samsung said the need to secure every connected device by 2020 is "critical". The firm's Open Economy document says "there is a very clear danger that technology is running ahead of the game". The firm said more than 7.3 billion devices will need to be made secure by their manufacturers before 2020.
“We are looking at a future in which companies will indulge in digital Darwinism, using IoT, AI and machine learning to rapidly evolve in a way we’ve never seen before," Brian Solis, from Altimeter Group, who helped on the research said.
IoT botnets, created using a network of out-of-date devices took websites and some services off-line in 2016. A Chinese firm later recalled 4.3 million unsecured connected cameras. The ease of bringing down the internet using IoT devices was revealed when instead of malicious purposes, the botnet was revealed to have been created to game Minecraft.
What are the privacy implications?
Everything that's connected to the Internet can be hacked, IoT products are no exception to this unwritten rule. Insecure IoT systems led to toy manufacturer VTech losing videos and pictures of children using its connected devices.
There's also the issue of surveillance. If every product becomes connected, then there's the potential for unbridled observation of users.
If a connected fridge tracks food usage and consumption, takeaways could be targeted at hungry people who have no food. If a smartwatch can detect when you're having sex, what is to stop people with that data using it against the watches' wearer.
“In the future, intelligence services might use the [Internet of Things] for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials,” James Clapper, the US direction or National Intelligence said in 2016.
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