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| The moment we choose to enter the digital realm, we effectively compromise our privacy (Reuters). |
In a scene from the movie Snowden, the protagonist tells a colleague, just before deciding to leave his intelligence agency and expose its digital dealings: "It doesn’t matter who you are. Every day of your life, you’ll be sitting in someone’s database, waiting for them to examine you."
The movie was so impactful that it led some people to cover their laptop cameras, thinking it would protect them from potential breaches. But is that really enough?
For instance, wireless chargers have become a popular and convenient trend found in almost every home and office. However, they could pose a danger to their users if hacked. A recent study revealed how a simple device could manipulate the charging process, causing your phone to overheat or even catch fire, potentially leading to an explosion.
A team of cybersecurity experts from the University of Florida conducted the study, demonstrating how they could interfere with the connection between the charger and the phone, sending false signals to deliver more power than necessary. This could result in overcharging and excessive heating, which could, in extreme cases, start a fire.
In their experiments, the researchers identified several potential scenarios for these attacks, dubbed VoltSkimmer. A hacker could send commands to the phone’s voice assistant, overriding the wireless charger’s foreign object detection mechanism, and expose nearby objects, such as credit cards or car keys, to intense magnetic fields, potentially damaging them.
Researchers tested numerous wireless chargers and phones from various brands and models, finding them all vulnerable to VoltSkimmer attacks. They demonstrated the feasibility of these attacks with a prototype costing less than $10, which could easily be concealed.
Recent incidents in Lebanon, including pager explosions, have also sparked discussions about the potential for phone hacking, or worse, the possibility of detonating them. However, the issue is much more complex than just smartphones, and far beyond what many might imagine.
The New World’s Cameras
In 2011, a research team at North Carolina State University broke the boundary between reality and crime fiction by developing a new algorithm that allowed tiny cameras to capture what people typed on their smartphones from relatively long distances. Imagine you’re standing in a subway station, texting a friend on WhatsApp, or sitting in a bank checking your email. A distant camera could record your screen, and this algorithm could stabilize shaky footage, fill in the gaps using massive amounts of data, and reconstruct the text you’re typing.
Now, consider this: even if you turn your back to the camera, someone standing beside you wearing glasses could reflect the image of your phone screen into the camera’s view. The algorithm could then track your finger movements on the keyboard, analyze them, and recreate the message. Early experiments with this technology, called I-Spy, were so successful that they captured data from individuals who were not part of the test, merely because they sat nearby or shared the same bus.
Hacking Medical Devices
Let’s shift focus to the development of heart-regulating devices—small electronic components placed under a patient’s skin to monitor their heartbeat and, in some cases, provide tiny electric pulses to prevent the heart from stopping or going out of rhythm. These devices have saved millions of lives since 1926. In 2006, a major breakthrough allowed them to be managed remotely, without needing to extract them from the body to update their software.
However, if there are wireless signals between two devices, there's a possibility for a hacker to intercept those signals. A 2019 study confirmed this risk, demonstrating how some heart devices could be hacked. The researchers were able to stop the device from working, drain its battery, or even deliver extra electric pulses, potentially causing cardiac fibrillation. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has acknowledged that any wireless medical device could be vulnerable to hacking, whether through direct manipulation or remote control.
Vulnerable Cars
Dr. Andry Rakotonirainy, from the QUT Center for Accident Research and Road Safety at Queensland University, highlighted in a 2014 paper that the security systems in today’s cars are as vulnerable as desktop computers were in the 1980s. Fundamental security requirements like authentication, confidentiality, and integrity are not robust enough.
A few years ago, researchers Yoshi Kohno and Stefan Savage from the University of Washington's Computer Science Department successfully intercepted signals in ordinary cars via Bluetooth, radio, or tire sensors. They demonstrated how hackers could alter the speedometer, making it display a slower speed than the car was actually traveling. For instance, you might think you're driving at 90 km/h while your car is speeding at 140 km/h. They could also control temperature sensors and brake pressure without your intervention. While these hacking possibilities are still under investigation, don’t assume that eavesdropping on your conversations or tracking your movements is any less dangerous.
Day by day, the potential for car hacking increases. A statistical analysis in Israel indicated that in 2019, vehicle hacks were up by 99% compared to the previous year. As the internet and communication systems become more deeply integrated into cars, their functions grow increasingly crucial. But what about the future?
A 2019 study from the Georgia Institute of Technology published in Physical Review E suggested that within a decade or two, we’ll see widespread adoption of self-driving cars and automated communication systems between vehicles and road management infrastructure. This could enable someone to bring an entire city to a standstill by remotely shutting down just 20% of the vehicles during rush hour.
Your Refrigerator as an Assassin?
It may seem that this discussion doesn’t directly affect you, but consider the small computer in your washing machine, the smart TV in your living room, the oven that shuts off when its sensors detect a certain temperature, or the fridge that receives your commands while you’re away from home. If none of these devices have made their way into your home yet, they soon will as part of the next wave of home modernization.
What if someone could disable one of these sensors? Or raise the temperature in your washing machine and extend its cycle? In 2014, Proofpoint, a cybersecurity firm, revealed a cyberattack that infiltrated smart household devices connected to the internet, including televisions, media centers, routers, and at least one refrigerator.
Now, consider this: what is the role of a hitman? They are trained to use weapons, move discreetly, and blend into dark alleys or tall buildings to hunt down their assigned target. One major challenge for assassinations has been how to make the crime appear as a natural event.
Now, imagine that the hitman’s job has changed. No more guns or concealed pistols. The modern hitman might be a skilled hacker who sits nearby, ready to disable someone’s pacemaker, hack their car to cause an accident, or manipulate the oven temperature in your home to start a fire.
The New Reality
Of course, this doesn’t mean we should return to living like cavemen. But we do need to understand the new digital equation. Imagine it as a perfectly balanced scale: the more you invest in one side, the more you must balance the other. The deeper you integrate into the digital world, the greater the chance of being hacked and having your data stolen by a third party, whether it’s monitoring your phone's temperature or accessing your microphone or camera.
Once you decide to enter the digital world, you put your privacy at risk. Many mistakenly believe this only happens when they use the internet on their smartphones or laptops. But the digital world encompasses everything around us—from the fridge and washing machine to online banking.
Furthermore, our behavior in the digital world tends to be less cautious than in the physical world. In a large survey of teens aged 13 to 17, 50% of respondents had voluntarily shared personal information, including photos, physical descriptions, phone numbers, and addresses, with people they didn’t know online. Ironically, these same individuals would call the police if asked the same questions in person.
As Luciano Floridi, a professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at Oxford University, puts it: Those who live digitally, die digitally.
The idea here is that everyone must understand the importance of information security and its risks. Even the average person should invest effort into learning about IT, cybersecurity, and big data analytics. This will not only help protect their personal security but also provide opportunities to develop new skills in an era that will see dramatic changes in job hierarchies, with many roles inevitably disappearing.
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