Internet of things (IoT) abuse

Internet of Things (IoT) abuse occurs when perpetrators exploit smart home devices, wearables, and connected appliances to exert control over victims.

Examples of this include remote manipulation of heating, lighting, and security systems to intimidate and harass a target; using connected cameras, smart TVs, and voice-activated devices to monitor conversations and for voyeuristic recording; and leveraging connected cameras and GPS-enabled devices for location tracking and stalking (Lopez-Neira et al., 2019; Tanczer et al., 2018). The abuse is particularly insidious because IoT systems are inherently designed assuming all household users trust each other, creating vulnerabilities when that trust is misplaced (Tanczer et al., 2018).

In the first recorded incident of IoT abuse, Ross Cairns was convicted of stalking his estranged wife by hacking into their smart home hub to listen to her conversations with her mother (Lopez-Neira et al., 2019).

Skill required

Medium - perpetrators typically use existing device interfaces and pre-installed applications rather than sophisticated hacking techniques, making this a "UI-bound adversary" scenario. However, more sophisticated hacking techniques can be used to install malicious software (‘spyware’) (Freed et al., 2018).

References

• Australian eSafety Commissioner. (2023). Technology-facilitated abuse: family, domestic and sexual violence. https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-10/Technology-facilitated-abuse-family-domestic-sexual-violence-literature-scan.pdf
• Australian eSafety Commissioner. (2024, September). Technology, gendered violence and Safety by Design: An industry guide for addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence through Safety by Design. Australian ESafety Commissioner. https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-09/SafetyByDesign-technology-facilitated-gender-based-violence-industry-guide.pdf
• Lopez-Neira, I., Patel, T., Parkin, S., Danezis, G., & Tanczer, L. (2019). “Internet of Things”: How abuse is getting smarter.. Safe – the Domestic Abuse Quarterly, 63, 22–26. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10070024/1/Safe%20Article%20FINAL.pdf
• Slupska, J., & Tanczer, L. M. (2021). Threat Modeling Intimate Partner Violence: Tech Abuse as a Cybersecurity Challenge in the Internet of Things. The Emerald International Handbook of Technology-Facilitated Violence and Abuse, 663–688. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83982-848-520211049
• Tanczer, L., Lopez, I., Simon, N., Trupti, P., George, P., & London, D. (2018). Gender and IoT research report: The rise of the Internet of Things and implications for technology-facilitated abuse. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/steapp/sites/steapp/files/giot-report.pdf

AI Risks and Opportunities

Risks

AI integration in IoT devices creates new attack vectors for abuse through more sophisticated surveillance capabilities and behavioral pattern recognition.

Opportunities

However, AI could also enable better detection of unusual device usage patterns that might indicate abuse.

Prevalence

“When considering the tactics used by perpetrators to facilitate TFA, practitioners observed that women were being tracked with GPS via apps or devices (28% 'all the time' and 37.5% 'often') (Woodlock et al. 2020a), which was an increase from that observed in 2015" (eSafety Commissioner, 2023).

"Our homes are becoming increasingly smart, with the average Australian household boasting about 24 internet-connected devices" and "the average number of smart devices per home expected to reach 33 by 2027" (eSafety Commissioner, 2024).

"The NSW Crime Commission found one in four people who purchased tracking devices in NSW in 2023 have a history of domestic violence" (eSafety Commissioner, 2024).

Cultural Variation

Adoption rates of IoT devices vary significantly between regions, as does education around their potential for misuse.