With the evolution of Smart Phones, Internet Of Things (IOT), Connected Systems and Technology, the life has changed drastically over a period of five to 10 years. Information is at our fingertips and we are able to do many things sitting wherever we are. Communication has become very easy and sharing of information between friends and contacts is happening by means of Text, Voice and Multimedia Messaging. Video Calls are very common and during this Covid-19 Pandemic situation, we have seen Working From Home (WFH) and eLearning very effective and this is going to be the future.
E-Commerce is booming with various On-Line platforms enabling us to buy and sell things at our convenience. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have started controlling the way we do business on-line. No need of waiting for a Taxi outside – we have the convenience of booking one and tracking the route through Smart Phones. Digital Transactions will be the future though we cannot completely become Cash Less.
All said positive so far, we must also realize the potential risks involved and the price that we may have to pay for all these convenience should something go wrong by way of Data or Information Security Breach. It is already happening world-wide and many are seriously affected.
The Smart Phones and/or Mobile Devices use Apps of different kind – some bundled with the System and some downloaded and installed by the user. The permissions that we grand or the Apps set by default can cause a lot of damage to our privacy and security if we do not take enough care while installing and/or using such Apps. The permissions range from access to your device’s memory/storage, camera, microphone, contacts list, your location, your data connection, media stored in your device and similar.
The Apps themselves are not fool-proof though they may look genuine and harmless at first sight. Many Apps and Websites have clones which if we access by mistake, can steal our valuable data or damage our systems and devices.
Now, with connected systems, the information you access on one of the devices are available almost instantly on all the connected systems (wherever you have signed in using the same user account). For example, if you have a Mobile Phone and you have signed in to your Google Account on that, the Google Search History will be almost instantly available on your Desktop or Notebook Computer if you already have signed in to Google Account on it or you can see that once you sign in next time. So, some information is captured whenever you browse a site, access a web application, or run an App on any of your devices which are sent to a third-party provider with or without your knowledge. It is quite normal nowadays to see a popup message or notification displayed while visiting websites that the website captures some information regarding you. Some do inform you but some do not though it is mandatory to get the user’s concurrence for capturing and/or sharing any personal or tracking information.
When you run an App (though in the background), depending upon your permission settings, your device’s camera, microphone etc. could be transmitting some data to a third-party – be very careful that the device could capture pictures and voice without your notice.
CCTV Surveillance is a common thing now with the convenience of accessing and monitoring the site remotely is the system is connected to internet. Remember, data does not come directly from source to the destination via internet as it has to pass through several servers before reaching you. With proper hacking mechanism, these data can be hacked by an expert hacker, thus compromising your privacy and security.
Smart Homes can be controlled from anywhere using Mobile Apps and proper access rights. So, if there is a security breach, you can be in trouble. There are refrigerators that can be set for maintaining reorder levels of items stored in it and ordering stuff when the stock falls the set level.
There are many instances where you could see relevant advertisements come on some Websites/YouTube about which you would have discussed recently with some of your friends. Websites display advertisements by capturing your browsing habits and the search pattern. So, what you do, how you do, where you do things are already available to an outsider.
If your Location is active on the Mobile Device, you can see requests for providing reviews about some shops/restaurants or similar appearing on your device as soon as you have moved out of that specific location where you have visited recently.
There are many sites offering you to store the details of the Credit/Debit Cards which you have used for a specific on-line transaction, for future use. They store your Name on the Card, Card Number, Expiry Date and even the Verification Code (CVV) so that the same card can be used for automatic renewal of memberships/subscription and/or pre-populate the information during your future transaction with the same provider.
To save yourselves and your privacy is your own responsibility. Be very careful while opting to provide permissions for Apps, storing Cookies, saving Passwords and Card Information during a transaction. You decide what to be shared and accessible remotely. Sitting inside your own house may sometimes be not safe as you have many devices connected to internet, which could potentially transmit data to an outsider without your knowledge.
Smart Devices are programmed by Smart People and they could be smart enough to steal things as well. You can find hundred reasons for accepting or denying but a little precaution can save you from a serious damage.
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