Internet of Things: A Deeper Dive in Your Privacy and Information

Technology is a tool used to help make societies daily lives easier. The personal computer helped pave the path for technological advancements. First came the personal computer, then smart phones came as the next major advancement and now there is the emergence of Internet of Things. Internet of Things are smaller embedded computers used to connect to a computer or smart phone. Internet of Things are used to collect, monitor, display and analyze information. Currently, of the most popular Internet of Things devices are: Amazon’s Alexa Echo Dot, Nest Smart Thermometer, Google Home, Wyze Security Cameras, Smart Baby Monitors and Phillips Hue Lightbulbs. These devices all have the ability to monitor and display information through either a web portal, mobile or computer application. Internet of Things devices have been ridiculed for being in people’s homes and gathering information. Although there have been security concerns about hackers breaking into these Internet of Things devices and stealing sensitive information, they are not the only security threat; big companies are also as well. Companies have been using user information for targeted ads. A large number of users have not known their information is being used for this reason. This is why it is vital for users to know what information their Internet of Things devices are capturing without their consent. This can be done by capturing network traffic via a Raspberry Pi running Kali Linux using Aircrack-ng, and then analyzing the packets using Wireshark. User information should be private and protected and no one should have their information taken from them without their consent. That is why it is also vital to have some type of monitoring device to see if a malicious attacker is trying to steal your data. Not only should this monitoring program create a database of the previous attacks that happened in the user’s network, but also inform the user in real time.