Navigating the Risks and Rewards of Drone Technology

The use of drones for various applications has been on the rise in recent years. From delivery services to aerial photography, drones have proven to be a valuable tool for a variety of industries. However, the increased prevalence of drones has also raised concerns about security and safety. In high-security locations such as airports, the possibility of rogue drones posing a threat to the safety of passengers and personnel has led to the development of counter-drone technologies. One such technology that has gained attention in recent years is the use of drones to take down other drones. See the video here:

Video source: https://twitter.com/HowThingsWork_/status/1611069508201943055

The use of drones as a means of warfare has been a controversial topic for some time now. Military drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, have been used by various countries for surveillance, intelligence gathering, and targeted airstrikes. While drones can provide an advantage in certain situations, their use has also raised ethical and legal issues, particularly with regard to civilian casualties.

The use of drones for warfare is not limited to military applications. Non-state actors have also been known to use drones for hostile purposes, such as smuggling drugs and weapons across borders or carrying out attacks. In some cases, these drones have been used to disrupt critical infrastructure, such as oil facilities and power plants. The use of drones as a means of warfare is likely to increase in the future, as the technology becomes more widespread and sophisticated. As such, the development of counter-drone technologies will become increasingly important in order to protect against these threats.

The FTC wants to crack down on mass surveillance 

The practice of gathering, analyzing, and profiting from data about individuals is known as commercial surveillance. Due to the volume of data gathered by some companies, individuals may be vulnerable to identity theft and hacking. Indeed, the dangers and stakes of errors, deception, manipulation, and other abuses have increased as a result of mass surveillance. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking input from the general public on whether additional regulations are necessary to safeguard individuals’ privacy and personal data in the commercial surveillance economy.

Photo by Lianhao Qu on Unsplash.

I advise you to attend the open forum on September 8, 2022, particularly if you are a researcher focusing on the topic of privacy and security. Also, if you are developing your own system or perhaps planning your next research project, I highly recommend you look at some of the topics identified by the FTC as these are likely to affect the design of your project. Here are the topics mentioned: “Harms to Consumers”, “Harms to Children”, “Costs and Benefits”, “Regulations”, “Automated Systems”, “Discrimination”, “Consumer Consent”, “Notice, Transparency, and Disclosure”, “Remedies”, and “Obsolescence”. Pay particular attention to the topic “Automated Systems” if your system uses AI/ML technologies.

More information can be found here: https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-register-notices/commercial-surveillance-data-security-rulemaking and https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/08/ftc-explores-rules-cracking-down-commercial-surveillance-lax-data-security-practices

Popular smart home brands may be allowing the police to conduct warrantless home surveillance

The security cameras in our smart homes from well-known smart home brands like Amazon and Google might not just be watching over our pets. According to an article in The Verge, they can also aid law enforcement in their investigations of crimes, but only if we do not mind the police viewing our footage without a warrant.

That implies that the police can access our private information without first presenting proof that an emergency situation exists. Police will probably only make use of this access for lawful objectives, such as preventing crime or attempting to locate a missing person in need of assistance. However, it does raise some issues regarding what may transpire when this technology becomes even more widely used and available.

What if, for instance, this access is utilized to locate and detain activists or protestors who have not breached any laws? Citizens may only exercise caution when shopping, be aware that their smart device may record personal information, and, if possible, enable end-to-end encryption.

If you have any questions about how to secure your smart home, do not hesitate to contact me.

Is Your Home Becoming A Spy?

On 9th October, I had the opportunity to present my paper at the IoT 2020 conference. I talked about smart connected homes to conference attendees participating in the security track. The presentation was pre-recorded and played to an online audience over Zoom.  It was in the format of a 12 mins presentation followed by 8 mins QA.

My presentation slot at IoT 2020.

The theme that I covered was about covert surveillance facilitated through commercial smart home systems retrofitted in homes around the globe.  In the study, we organized 81 systems by their data-collection capabilities with the intention of better understanding their privacy implications. Also, we identified research directions and suggested ways that allow users more control, transparency, and ethical uses over their personal data.

You can take a look at the presentation slides here. Also, please free to email me in case you need more information about my work.

Data Collected by Smart Home Devices

What type of data smart home devices collect? This is exactly what I talked about last week in Seattle (USA) at the Services Conference Federation (SCF 2018). Understanding the data smart home systems collect is useful to assess what is at stake if a device is compromised and as a precursor for conducting privacy analysis.

Image result for data privacy

By analysing the privacy policies of different smart home and IoT device manufacturers we observed that all investigated devices collect instances of personal data. This in the worst case can include biometric data. Such data is used for instance in smart TVs for authentication purposes and sometimes to support advanced interaction features.

However, there are many other instances of non-personal data which when aggregated can truly paint a detailed coarse-grained model of an individual’s lifestyle preferences, habits, and history.

Read more: https://www.springerprofessional.de/an-empirical-analysis-of-smart-connected-home-data/15852434