John Lovelace – Information Assurance Analyst at the National Information Assurance Training and Education Center (NIATEC) in honor of Cyber Security Awareness Month.

Science fiction has long anticipated the impact of remarkable technology on society. Sometimes these works seem almost prophetic when compared to the technology we now in our daily lives: handheld computers; personally-targeted advertising; smart homes; even self-driving cars. Many of these technologies are becoming commonplace so quickly that proper security is an afterthought: not only of the designers, but also of consumers. And while it might not seem to be a big deal whether your phone-accessible thermostat might have insecure passwords or hard-coded credentials, malicious users have been able to abuse large networks of easily-compromised devices to disrupt our daily lives. For example, last October, a botnet consisting of millions of compromised home cameras and other ‘smart’ devices was used to attack the Dyn DNS server, temporarily preventing customers from being able to route properly to websites they use on a daily basis for work or entertainment.

While it is important to recognize the need for increased device security, it is equally important to recognize that our increasingly connected world thrives on personal information. Location tracking, buying patterns, and personal preferences are all recorded to improve the effectiveness of products and services offered.  That said, this same data provides a fingerprint that can limit anonymity and can potentially be forged to mimic your identity. It can even be used to increase your vulnerability to targeted phishing attempts.

Lastly, it is important to recognize the growing trend toward subscription-based living. While we don’t think much of subscribing to different entertainment services, increasingly we find ourselves owning very little of the products we use on a daily basis, depending upon companies for non-transferable licenses, limited access, and life-long services.  Okay, so what do we really lose if our Steam game collection disappears tomorrow or we can’t access Netflix? Not much. But if internet providers double access fees, or if self-driving cars charge a monthly subscription to operate, or health insurance companies limit cost-effective care to a small geographic region (wait, that already happens), how does it begin to impact our economic freedom? We become dependent on the companies that operate our devices and provide us these services and begin to own very little.

So what’s the point of all this? We need to consciously encourage truly smart technology development (and by ‘smart’ I don’t mean it’s connected to the internet). In order to encourage companies to limit data collection and manipulation, ensure products are designed secure from the start, and to enable ownership of products, we need to exercise our rights and resp encourage methods of product distribution that give us some semblance of control over the products we use on a daily basis. All-in-all the next twenty years will continue to see revolutionary technology development, but without wise involvement, we very well might find ourselves in a worse place because of it. Our future will be decided by our action (or inaction) today.