Pioneering research has discovered how smart devices talk to Android apps and each other to share data that allows them to know who enters a home, when, and how much they earn
Sell the data to a data broker. Organized criminals buy or steal the data. Then they use it for extortion. For example, the use of WIFI data-mining to determine an illicit affair, simply based on whose phones show up together in an apartment or hotel room. Then they target you or the other to obtain photos or other evidence useful for blackmail.
Don’t think this shit can’t happen. And if it’s possible, it will happen because it would be profitable.
Or, bear with me, just send a massive amount of spam mails to leaked mailing lists. Maybe 1 in a million reacts and you scam them (cfr all the “Nigerian prince” scams.
A looooot less work because the victim’s will contact you themselves. No need to go and “compare which phones show up together and them figure out why they were together and then figure out if it was an affair or not and then contact them in the hopes they care enough to pay ransom”
The uncontrolled exposure of this information,” says Narseo Vallina-Rodríguez, researcher at Imdea Networks and co-author, “allows advertising services or spy applications to create a digital fingerprint of your home that uniquely identifies it or can infer your income level and habits.” Not only that, if these devices scan for new information frequently “they can infer who enters and leaves the house and your social structures to monitor their activities through networks and devices,” adds the expert.
…
For example, this data is captured by apps that we carry on our phones and they collect the serial number of the router or the name of the connection, which allows us to know the location (without even accessing the device’s GPS). There are pages where Wi-Fis from all over the world are mapped. If two mobile phones access the same Wi-Fi, you not only know that they are close, but also where they are. If an app on the visitor’s mobile scans how many smart devices are there, and which ones, that data can help calculate the household income of that home.
Cybercriminals target high value individuals with attacks ranging from phishing exploits to ransomware. They use sex as a lure. This is all over the news. The idea they wouldn’t use data of this sort for blackmail because ’ it’s too much work’ is folly.
Seriously, that sounds like such a bullshit approach. It’s uneconomical for the criminals. It’s super involved and doesn’t pay that much. Why would anyone do that, if regular fraud is right there to commit.
Sell the data to a data broker. Organized criminals buy or steal the data. Then they use it for extortion. For example, the use of WIFI data-mining to determine an illicit affair, simply based on whose phones show up together in an apartment or hotel room. Then they target you or the other to obtain photos or other evidence useful for blackmail.
Don’t think this shit can’t happen. And if it’s possible, it will happen because it would be profitable.
Or, bear with me, just send a massive amount of spam mails to leaked mailing lists. Maybe 1 in a million reacts and you scam them (cfr all the “Nigerian prince” scams.
A looooot less work because the victim’s will contact you themselves. No need to go and “compare which phones show up together and them figure out why they were together and then figure out if it was an affair or not and then contact them in the hopes they care enough to pay ransom”
I guess your username makes sense.
From the article:
…
Cybercriminals target high value individuals with attacks ranging from phishing exploits to ransomware. They use sex as a lure. This is all over the news. The idea they wouldn’t use data of this sort for blackmail because ’ it’s too much work’ is folly.
I cited a UN report on cybercrime in this thread.
As a high value individual you have to accept that you’ll always be a target. Nobodies like you and me on the other hand? Nobody will bother.
Will Mulder rescue me then?
Seriously, that sounds like such a bullshit approach. It’s uneconomical for the criminals. It’s super involved and doesn’t pay that much. Why would anyone do that, if regular fraud is right there to commit.
Racketeering and extortion are bread and butter for organized crime.
But not like that. And not on a scale that would justify all that investment. These crimes only happen in your mind.
Bullshit. Ten years old and still relevant:
https://www.unodc.org/documents/organized-crime/cybercrime/CYBERCRIME_STUDY_210213.pdf