During my younger years I lived in a fairly congested part of New York. I was fortunate enough to live alone and had neighbors on all four sides of my building. At that time I owned a first generation cordless phone. That was at a time when not much thought had been given to privacy.
I remember tripping over the charging base and unplugging it while talking on the phone. As soon as the base disconnected, I could hear other voices coming through the handset. It took me a few minutes, but I soon realized the voices I was hearing were my neighbors. I can honestly say this wasn’t the last time I unplugged the base or heard voices in my head.
A few years later and cell phones started appearing in mass. Someone, somewhere figured out that police scanners set to the right frequency could intercept cell phone calls. I’ve never owned a scanner, but I’ve heard many stories about people intercepting phone calls and listening in on personal conversations.
Privacy, in regards to technology, is a somewhat controversial topic. Very few technologies are completely impenetrable to outsiders; however, the majority of people won’t take the time to learn how to peep on other users. Many people don’t realize there are off-the-shelf utilities that will allow monitoring with relative ease.
Public hotspots are notorious places for data voyeurs to hang out. Intercepting wireless data from a hotspot is as easy as installing a third party utility and connecting the hotspot. Any data communicated via the wireless network can easily be intercepted and interpreted by the software. During the Winter Olympics in Russia, hackers took this to the next level installed viruses on computers connected to the networks.
Several years ago I decided to prove my theory of how easy it is to intercept VOIP phone calls. VOIP is the same technology used by cable TV providers for their phone service. In any event, I set up a basic computer on my work network and with a few short keystrokes and a free piece of software could listen to all calls made to and from my store.
For whatever reason, software exists that will allow monitoring of keystrokes and will snap a picture of the computer screen at various intervals. Most often an estranged lover will install this type of software to monitor their partner. In most instances this software is not illegal and is easily installed. I have seen many instances of this being used and weeks of someone’s life monitored without the other knowing.
Capturing credit card information is as simple as setting up a bogus ATM and reading cards as they are swiped. The magnetic stripe on the card contains all the information a thief needs to create a fake card. With the copy, the burglar can use the card as if it’s the original.
Many department stores are currently monitoring shoppers’ patterns using their cell phone. Modern cell phones continuously broadcast a wireless signal as they try to connect to other networks. Store owners intercept and use this signal to map their customers’ shopping habits so they can design their floor plans for more profitability.
About the only way to protect ourselves from technology peers is to stop using technology all together. Unfortunately, there will always be someone who tries and succeeds at breaking through the security measures inherent to the device. As for me, with four businesses to manage I haven’t had the time to listen in on my neighbors but I still hear voices in my head.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can call him at (978) 919-8059 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)