“We’ve all become a bit cyborg. Our phone is an extension of our memory; we’ve outsourced basic mental functions to algorithms; we’ve handed over our secrets to be stored on servers and mined by computers.” – Franklin Foer

As Franklin Foer stated in his book World Without Mind, we’ve allowed big tech companies to integrate themselves in our daily lives more so than any other company, or a group of companies, did. This line of thought was a bit of a wake-up call for me, I was not unaware of the impact of the big tech on our daily lives and mental health, but something about Foer’s quote above struck a chord. As of late 2021, when this article was written, we’ve outsourced almost every human function to computers. We rely on our phones to wake us up, to remind us pick up our children, to teach us how to cook and how to do basic repairs, to call loved ones, and for many other things. The Internet of Things (IoT), also known as smart devices, have gained massive popularity over the last few years, with digital assistants being used to turn our lights on and off, smart fridges allowing you to get that perfectly cold glass of water, and your smart watch telling you how much you’ve been slacking off on your steps.

In very simple terms, the Internet of Things (IoT) are devices we use in our daily lives, but connected to the internet. Some examples would be smart watches, smart microwaves, smart TVs, smart fridges, self-driving cars, fitness devices, wearables, medical devices, etc. We can only expect this embrace of home automation to continue in the future, with the Covid-19 pandemic locking people away in their homes, and the spread of 5G use among average consumers. The worldwide shipments of smart home devices reached over 800 million, and they’re forecast to reach 1.4 billion by 2025. As the senior research analyst Adam Wright stated: “Consumers have shifted their spending priorities from other areas like vacations, going out to eat, or visiting cinemas to focus on adding more comfort, conveniences, and entertainment at home.”

In theory, IoT devices are supposed to make our lives easier, streamline repetitive tasks and allow us to focus on more important things. In practice though, they cause more problems than they solve, on top of carrying massive security and privacy risks. We need to see how smart devices actually work in order to reach the root of the problem.

IoT devices have built-sensors that capture information, analyze it, compare it with the data from other smart devices, and then come up with a conclusion. For example, your phone may analyze when you stop using your phone at night and when you first pick it up over a course of days or weeks. Then, it establishes a pattern of your sleep schedule in order to predict when you’ll wake up. They do this to optimize charging speed and preserve your phone battery. Similarly, your fitness tracker may collect data on how often, where, when and how you work out in order to compare that data with your goals, your contacts, etc.

This collection and analysis part is where the most privacy and security risks lie. Your smart devices collect information and turn it into highly-sensitive data, which is then stored on third-party servers on the web. The manufacturer of the device can see collected data by default, and so can their partners and other businesses they have agreements with. However, this data is generally not available to you, and you often don’t know who else has control of your devices, aside from you. Big tech often gets away with this because they state this in the fine print of their Terms of Service documents.

The high-value consumer data being stored on a cloud makes it a very tempting target for malicious parties. A team of hackers demonstrated how easy it is to gain access into your smart home. The fact that all of these smart devices are connected to each other through the same home network means only one of your devices needs to be compromised for the whole system to be taken over. Back in 2019, two ‘hackactivist’ security researchers found a vulnerability in the database of the IoT company Orvibo. They gained access to over 2 billion logs, which included everything from users’ family names to their account passwords. It has been found out that hackers could control your entire smart home using laser light.

Ultimately, by using IoT devices you’re putting a lot of trust into the manufacturer, both to be able to handle your data with respect and to provide a secure wall of protection for it. However, past experience with tech has shown that profit comes before customer respect. A quick Google search will lead you into a rabbit hole of articles filled with tech companies evading responsibility for user data. Even when they’re not acting with malicious intent, smart home systems are inherently vulnerable, and easy to exploit. CBC, a Canadian broadcast service, made a video in 2018 explaining how your smart home devices can be used to spy on you. I definitely recommend watching it, as it shows three white hat hackers how easy it is to get access to a smart home – security cameras, digital assistants, lights, temperature, speakers, as well as the main door lock.

Prof. Dr. Matthias Wählisch, the Head of Internet Technologies Group of Freie Universität Berlin, stated that the best way of using these smart devices in your home is through free open-source software (FOSS) . FOSS has public code that anyone can view and edit, and as such, there is full transparency where your data is being stored. This makes it the standard for privacy. You should also always use strong passwords for your devices and two-factor authentication (2FA). The most important thing is that all of your devices have different passwords, or you can make use of a password manager, which creates unique passwords for you, and safely encrypts them.