In the current day and age the majority of people living own so may internet of thing devices. There are advantages and disadvantages of these devices and like anything sometimes the bad outweighs the good. In Japan, as they are approaching one of the biggest sporting events of the year, they have come to a realization. Most of these internet of things devices are smart appliances and are owned by many people in homes.
The bad thing about these devices are how capable and easy they can be hacked. The lack of security on these devices are so low and continue to be low the more these devices become more and more smart and efficient. Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications technology will create this so called “project” to basically hack citizens all over who own these smart devices. This definitely sounds weird I get that but at the same time it is something that needs to be done to see how companies can improve these internet of things devices and better the customers.
The one thing that I don’t like about this idea from Japan is that they are basically using government as the reason why they can hack the citizens. This is also weird because some would look at it in a way that is invading individual privacy rights. I don’t know for sure if that is something that can be proven but it does seem like now everyone has to be on the look out for any kind of hacking…especially from the government.
The positive side of this entire project is that the government will inform the citizens on their actions of hacking their least safe devices if they are able to hack it and will notify internet service providers as well.
Citation: Person. “The Very Good Reason Japan Is Going to Start Hacking Its Own Citizens.” Popular Mechanics, Popular Mechanics, 29 Jan. 2019, www.popularmechanics.com/technology/security/a26077229/japan-hacking-citizens-internet-of-things/.
Starting on February 20, 2019, Japan will begin hacking their own citizens to try to alert them to the security flaws of their devices. CNN claims that Japan is doing this in preparation for hosting the 2020 Olympic Games because they fear a risk of an IoT attack that could potentially interfere with the event.
This seems like a scary wake up call to me. Many users will most likely find themselves being hacked by their own government to show them how easily they could be exposed to the “bad guy” hackers in the future. I personally could not imagine this happening in the states. I think there would be a massive outrage against the government hacking into citizen’s phones to “prove a point”. I think it is a violation of privacy and would never pass in the U.S.
My biggest concern would be not knowing what the government would do with all this private data after they are done their hacking experiment. I would fear that they would save all the data and possibly exploit it or use it without consent. I hope that Japan uses this as a way of teaching and helping rather than an abuse of power over citizens.
Griffiths, James. “Japan Is Hacking Millions of Its Citizens Because Everyone’s Home Security Is Terrible.” CNN, Cable News Network, 2 Feb. 2019, http://www.cnn.com/2019/02/01/asia/japan-hacking-cybersecurity-iot-intl/index.html.
This is definitely an interesting concept to show just how easy it is to hack a device and invade the privacy of millions of people. With so many devices that are connected to the internet today and have cameras and microphones, there are many concerns that start to develop regarding personal privacy. Hackers can very easily get into these devices and have a real-time video and audio feed from virtually any device they choose, depending on the security of the device. It really makes you wonder if someone is listening or watching through your devices without you even knowing.. very creepy.
With so many stories regarding the misuse of data collected from big companies today, it goes to show that you data is never really safe and there is always the possibility of it getting into the wrong hands. There are certain devices that allow you to control how much data is collected from you, like the iPhone for example. You can go into the settings and control when you location data is collected and manually turn the microphone and camera off just in case. Many people are using camera covers for their laptops today to ensure their safety as well. All in all, I think this is a very interesting project and hope that it is done without violating privacy and help to teach how vulnerable we are today.