Читать книгу Cryptography, Information Theory, and Error-Correction - Aiden A. Bruen - Страница 34

The IoT is another major force today. It refers to any object or device that is connected to the Internet. A smart home can have many devices that can communicate with your phone, such as door bells to light bulbs to audio speakers. Amazon's Alexa is one example of IoT. In 2019, Amazon reported that over 100 million Alexa devices had been sold, [New19a]. Many IoT devices communicate by Bluetooth. The health‐care field is also being transformed. As always, we need to be wary of security concerns. For example, in August 2019, USA Today had an article by Jefferson Graham entitled, “Sorry, readers. Your Bluetooth device is a security risk,” [Gra19]. They quote Jovi Umawing, a research at Malwarebytes Labs:

A year ago, I was on a ferry coming back from vacation and had a weird photo (a meme style image) pop up on my phone via Airdrop from a source I didn't recognize,” he says. ”I checked my settings, and it was open to anyone. I immediately shut it off and have left it off ever since. I turn it on to receive from people only when they are standing right in front of me.”

Bluetooth has a limited range. So it is relatively safe around the home, unless there is an attacker nearby. But, in a public area, it might be best to turn it off. Graham also quotes Matt Lourens, a security engineering manager with Checkpoint software. He says,

Another concern: shopping. Many retailers have Bluetooth beacons placed in‐store to watch over you and track your location and shopping habits. Turning off Bluetooth before you enter will save your battery and keep prying eyes away from your device.

Bluetooth 5 devices have a range of up to 800 feet. (theoretically) The security of some IoT devices is of major concern. We shall discuss this further in Chapter 27 on the IoT.