Society is constantly changing. One of the changes that has marked the world the most was the industrial revolution that gave way to a new economy, a new society and a great advance in technology. But this has not been the only one, there have been wars, scientific discoveries, changes in nature, among other things that have generated a change in the world. In particular, there was another great movement that, like the industrial revolution, changed the world completely, the emergence of computers and later the internet.
The emergence of these two technologies that complement each other gave way to what we know as a globalized world since it notably altered the way in which society in general communicates and perceives the world. People today are looking for automated systems for most of the things they do. They are in search of constant improvement in technology, and as they always repeat, science and technology do not rest. For this reason, we are now entering a new era of many technological advances, which is, so to speak, the continuation of the emergence of computers, the era of the internet of things.
The term of the internet of things is quite obvious as it is completely related to its name, "connecting all things to the internet", however it is a complex term for all that it involves. One of the most used examples of the internet of things is that of a smart refrigerator that suggests that you can cook according to what you have inside it and provides you with a supermarket list with what you need. Or the example of smart lights that through an application and obviously being connected to the internet can be turned on or off from wherever you are.These two examples are the most used because they are smart devices that have already existed for several years but can be a bit boring since it is the typical example that they give you when someone talks about the internet of things. Technology does not stay in these two devices, it is estimated that in the near future most of our personal items will be connected to the internet, which is an amazing idea that promises a more controlled and better organized lifestyle.
Like everything that exists, the Internet of Things has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are many, since like the internet today, the internet of things opens the doors to a world full of possibilities, in infinite areas such as economy, communication, health, etc. But before a wonderful idea we must stop to think… Do we have the network capacity to supply all things? What will happen to the security and privacy of the information that is handled?
One of the points that may be more interesting is the question of security and privacy of the personal information that will be available on the network. A common phrase heard in an IT field is "If you can program, you can hack." It is alarming to know that all our personal information, the record of what we do, what we buy, what we eat, our entertainment is accessible to anyone who can hack into our internet-connected devices. Do we really want to connect our lives to the internet when someone with a simple process can have access to everything?
Now consider that technology advances to improve people's lives and something where there is still much to improve is in health. What will happen when a person connects their body to the internet for health reasons, monitoring, observation, application of doses, etc.? How are you going to handle that someone hacked the device that gives you medicine and has the ability to damage your health with a single click?
The concern of the internet of things related to health will open the way to great ethical dilemmas and the search for improvements in the field of computer security. And it brings us to the most important question: Why should we connect to something so dangerous to our integrity?
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a concept that emerged at MIT in 1999 and was proposed by Kevin Ashton after research on radio frequency networks and sensor operation. It is proposed that each human being is surrounded by 1000 to 5000 thousand things and that these things can connect to the internet. In itself, the Internet of Things is a concept that involves effective communication between things and people, helps to improve the speed, process and analysis of information to monitor and make decisions.
The internet of things is simply an interaction between the virtual world and the physical world that will bring great benefits. It is estimated that in 2020 there will be 30 billion devices connected to an IP connection, which will bring an economic improvement and will help to give a more personalized and predictive experience regarding what you want to do and is connected to the network.
The IoT is related to the terms big data, cloud computing, social networks and mobility. Which throughout the history of the internet and with its evolution have helped to improve technological aspects and lead us to what is being experienced today in a globalized world. Thanks to technological advances, focusing directly on the Internet has been able to reduce the cost of communication and improve it, increase interest in investing in technology, reduce connection costs, and make technology accessible to everyone.
More specifically, the IoT involves various areas such as things, doors, the cloud, routers, repeaters, security, among others. Things are literally things or devices that are communicated through sensors and through an IP connection. The doors act as intermediaries between the cloud, providing security, connection and manageability to connected devices. The network is responsible for having routers, gateways, repeaters, etc. to guarantee a good connection for all devices and thus maintain good information management. The cloud contains the information obtained by things and stores it in an organized way. All of these together help the IoT to exist.
One of the constant doubts when talking about the internet and information storage is the cloud. The cloud is simply a management of resources and information that allows to provide services through the network. There are three main types of cloud, public, private, and hybrid. The public is to which all users have access, it is controlled by the company that provides the connection service and it is not necessary for the user to have a notion of what is happening. Private is more expensive than public but more secure, it is usually used in companies that need to have their information more protected. And finally, the hybrid is a mixture of public and private and is used by companies that require less security than that of a private cloud but more than the public cloud.
Thinking that in the near future everything will be connected to the network and that this will give us benefits is a wonderful approach, but as mentioned before, everything that is connected to the internet is vulnerable to attacks. That is why the term hacker arises, which originally refers to people who had solutions to improve society through computers but who usually do not respect the protocols or the rules of the network. Hackers are generally known as the classic people who without permission access private information and who take advantage of internet media to steal information and money. Devices that were previously unconnected will now be and this opens up the field for potential cyber attacks.
Perhaps the Internet of Things is considered to be something that tends towards the future but as mentioned above it is something of the here and now. In addition, the IoT not only focuses on physical things but is being used as a great means to improve areas such as people's health. For example, 2015 was listed as the year of wearables. What is a wearable? It is a device that is designed for a person to wear and is mainly aimed at monitoring health issues. In 2015, smartwatches and smartbands were introduced, which are watches or bracelets that measure the number of steps taken, the sleep time one has, the heart rate, among others. These devices are connected through an IP connection to mobile devices and thus the information they have is stored in the cloud.With them you can provide statistics about health at the personal level and at the area level.
Another example is the intense fight against cerebral palsy. A system has been created that interprets the wishes of the brain and sends movement commands to the extremities through an IP connection. All of this came about with the desire that people who suffer from some form of paralysis could wirelessly connect their body to regain movement. The clearest example of this is the patient Cathy Hutchinson who has complete paralysis and on April 12, 2011 managed to move a robotic arm with her mind.
Similarly, the Internet of Things has been implemented to combat global epidemics. In 2015, the IBM company launched a project as a means to stop the spread of Ebola specifically in Africa. The project involves a machine called Waston that is known for its ability to analyze and learn information. Suspicious and confirmed cases of Ebola were recorded through an internet page that can be accessed from any mobile device or fixed computer. This page serves to detect where the epidemic was emerging and after comparing the characteristics of the data entered with other cases, give a prognosis and suggest a treatment to the patient who probably did not have immediate access to a doctor due to the situation.
This is one of the many projects that you have about online consultations and follow-ups. Online consultations in general have shown great benefit but it is stipulated that it is due to the lack of trust of people to this type of platform and the refusal of doctors to change the methods of service. It is expected that with the passage of time and the integration of young doctors into the workplace, the use of technology will increase to provide a more effective health service.
Another current example is the Wireless Innovation Project contest that is created by a company called Vodafone, where there are various health projects. Like the smart diaphragm that is a wireless monitor for high-risk pregnancies seeking to prevent problems in babies who are born prematurely. There is also a project for a smart stethoscope that connects to an android device and helps diagnose lung diseases even better than ordinary stethoscopes. Another project in the same contest is the "Cellscope" which seeks to detect and diagnose diseases through microscopes, an internet connection and connection to a cell phone camera. It is important to highlight that all these projects are mainly oriented to areas of economic vulnerability.
There are thousands of additional examples to those already mentioned of how through the internet of things you can solve problems of Alzheimer's, cancer, nutrition, among other diseases. New projects arise every day and hope in health increases, however the conflict of security, the protection of people and data continues.
Information security on the internet is an issue that will always be a conflict since there is always human error and the internet is created by humans. That human error can be exploited by another human who detects it, filtered to the devices and obtain information. Now with the implementation of the Internet of Things, everything that we connect to the network will be vulnerable to hacking, but not only to hacking on a personal level if not on a massive scale. Information about individuals as a whole can be very appealing to the private sector, the government, and cybercriminals.
One of the demonstrations about the risk of internet-connected devices was made by scientists who illegally accessed cars, deactivated the brakes, turned off the lights and suddenly applied the brakes without the driver's authorization. In the same way, the GPS controls can be accessed by altering the route and diverting the person to take them to places of vulnerability. Another example is in homes that have devices connected to the internet, lighting, gas consumption and the use of doors and security cameras can be manipulated while having total control over the house.
The above examples may sound harmless to some, but they are not. Let us approach those situations with health. By means of a hack to an application such as the stethoscope, it is possible to diagnose erroneous diseases and prescribe wrong treatments to people to benefit or harm some sector. The data of the users of an application can be sold to the private sector and this is expected to be a big deal for cyber attackers as it is estimated that it will generate greater profits than cloning credit cards. With the sale and alteration of data, insurance privileges can be lost through misdiagnoses.
The data of the epidemics can be misinterpreted with in the case of the IBM project and the Ebola generating discrimination to the people and sectors where more cases are found. All this through a violation of the information privacy protocol that can be altered by various areas in different parts of the world. Not only is all this information interesting for the private sector. The government has always somehow controlled the Internet. In the United States of America, through cookies, everything that is done on the internet is controlled and in this way the information is centralized for "national security". (Dan Schiller, 2014)
There are people like Andrew Keen author of the book "The internet is not the answer" who establish that the internet is not as good as we think since it really is a means to control the economy and generate a monopoly. If we put it in context, our health would be monopolized. In part he may be right, perhaps the internet of things is not totally aimed at improving people's lives, but in general terms everything that is developed seeks an economic sustenance.
If there is an economic support, and of course there is, for the internet of things, projects such as the stethoscope and the diaphragm can be developed that are oriented to places with economic vulnerability and also help to advance technologically in health.
Perhaps if you think of an object that we will connect to our body and diagnose a disease, it will not be very funny since the empathy of a human being is always needed, but it is definitely a more accessible way to diagnose diseases and can have great potential in areas with limited resources and without access to large hospitals as well as being able to complement the work of traditional doctors.
Probably each connected device will not be able to defend itself but you can create a central base of a system to manage and protect it. This will create a system of systems which facilitates the control of the internet of things and security. It is being implemented that over time the product developers concentrate on creating things that are not vulnerable to the 10 most common attacks established by the OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) that additionally write the vulnerabilities of the computers in the label of sale of the same.
As already mentioned, if you have access to a device physically or through the network, security problems increase but they are not impossible to control. There are technology companies that specialize specifically in networking and computer security. One of the most important is CISCO that, in addition to concentrating on its work, has certifications that help the population specialize in computer security and have campaigns such as blogs where solutions are proposed at the person level to avoid hacking acts.
A case that could motivate people is that of the Windows XP operating system that used to suffer from many attacks in its time to which Microsoft responded with patches in the OS. After much financial loss and damage from system problems, Microsoft decided that it should focus on building a new OS and not stick with patches. That is why Windows 8 was created that was created with a vision towards the future and momentarily eliminated the problems of cyberattacks. Eventually, new viruses and new ways of penetrating the system were created, however this type of attack helps to improve technology every time. Like Windows security, the security of the Internet of Things is expected to improve over the years.
IoT is not something that will appear overnight but it is something that will inevitably emerge since it is a large business area for the industry and if it grows in the industry it will also grow in other areas such as medicine. Many people will probably only consider the risks that the Internet of Things entails and see it as a nuisance. It is important that the way of looking at this new tool changes since it is expected that the majority of companies and most of the industry sector will implement it in the coming years.
The technology will continue with Moore's law and as it establishes it, the size of the processors will be reduced and the capacity will be improved, which will lead to the prices that continue to fall. The sensors and processes necessary for technological advancement will become increasingly cheaper, which will facilitate the implementation of the Internet of Things in everything. As time progresses, millennials will grow and enter more and more into the field of industry of all kinds, which will lead to technology advancing with them and drastically changing the way in which many sectors are managed.
It is well known that technology generates great companies and that the economy has always changed and that with the invention of computers this change is even more remarkable. The internet of things is being implemented through mobile devices, specifically smartphones. Although one of the upcoming changes that is expected is that werables replace mobile devices as cell phones replaced the landline at some point. But there is not only the emergence of wearables to replace current technologies, in the same way, connection types such as IPv6, zigbee and thread are developed. In other words, technology is advancing towards the IoT. It will be necessary to strengthen the protection of the environments by encrypting data, requesting greater authentication by users and generating more resistant code and better prepared for large attack attempts. You should think like a hacker and be one, but always considering ethics to defend the integrity of people.
Engineers, more than all other men, will guide humanity forward. Upon engineers rests a responsibility that men have never had to face before (Akin 1977, 8).
These are challenges especially for people in technology areas who will be faced daily with new problems and new ways of handling information.
But not everything is left in the hands of software and hardware developers and computer security specialists. It is important that the user learn to manage the Internet of Things by implementing habits in his life that are not so complicated. For example, you should create unpredictable passwords and keep things that don't need to be on the network outside of it while improving security.
Finally, it would be interesting to ask ourselves, how else can we use the Internet of Things to improve health and in this way improve the world economy?
References:
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