The Privacy Mission

CHAPTER 6Criminals

Before I dive into some of the main criminal threats we face, I would just like you to take a moment to look around the room you are in as you read this book and make a mental note of the technology you can see. Do you have a smart TV on your wall? Is there a smart speaker in the corner? Maybe a laptop on the coffee table? How about a baby monitor? I am sure your phone is within easy reach, too. Simply make yourself aware of all the technology that is around you; I come back to this later in the chapter.

The Sophistication of Digital Crime

As I mentioned in the previous chapter, conventional criminals have become a lot more sophisticated in how they use technology to target both individuals and businesses. You might still get the odd email from a Nigerian prince asking you to click on a link, but most of us are savvy enough not to fall for that these days! However, more and more criminal hacks are carried out using emails that appear to come from someone we know (look at the CEO example I shared in Chapter 4), or they do not require you to click on a dodgy link at all.

When the NSA cyber weapons cache was stolen by the Shadow Brokers and leaked online, it gave criminals access to a host of backdoors that allow them to carry out zero‐click hacks, where they can simply access our phones or computers using the apps we have installed. These kinds of leaks not only allow the criminals to use the vulnerabilities that are exposed, but also allow these hacks and ...