• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

New Batavia spyware targets Russian industrial enterprises

 | 

Taiwan flags security risks in popular Chinese apps after official probe

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Google Chromium V8 flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Hunters International ransomware gang shuts down and offers free decryption keys to all victims

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 52

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 531 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

North Korea-linked threat actors spread macOS NimDoor malware via fake Zoom updates

 | 

Critical Sudo bugs expose major Linux distros to local Root exploits

 | 

Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data

 | 

A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users

 | 

China-linked group Houken hit French organizations using zero-days

 | 

Cybercriminals Target Brazil: 248,725 Exposed in CIEE One Data Breach

 | 

Europol shuts down Archetyp Market, longest-running dark web drug marketplace

 | 

Kelly Benefits data breach has impacted 550,000 people, and the situation continues to worsen as the investigation progresses

 | 

Cisco removed the backdoor account from its Unified Communications Manager

 | 

U.S. Sanctions Russia's Aeza Group for aiding crooks with bulletproof hosting

 | 

Qantas confirms customer data breach amid Scattered Spider attacks

 | 

CVE-2025-6554 is the fourth Chrome zero-day patched by Google in 2025

 | 

U.S. CISA adds TeleMessage TM SGNL flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

A sophisticated cyberattack hit the International Criminal Court

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Intelligence
  • Security
  • CIA and the intelligence components of the things

CIA and the intelligence components of the things

Pierluigi Paganini March 16, 2012

Unfortunately, we rarely stop to reflect on the reality that surrounds us and the potential of the devices we use every day in the office, at home and when we’re out. The technology behind each of them has became the main architect of their operation and no matter whether we are talking about our phone or about refrigerator in our kitchen.
More and more devices are connected to network, exchange information, talk to each other sometimes getting rid of many concerns and facilitating our daily lives. So our refrigerator alert supermarket because our favorite jam is about to end or because the gluten-free products we use are under escort. A huge amount of valuable information useful for many purposes, from the commercial to military.

The major intelligence agencies in the world are aware of the problem which is deemed by many as the new frontier of espionage. Being able to enter the life of any citizen from his TV or his oven. If you think you are mistaken paranoia, that information really fannogola many public and private, are a mine of information, the new essence of power.

The issue is extremely delicate and deserves careful study, these devices that can provide all kinds of information on our experience, can be controlled remotely to spy on us, even worse may be deliberately tampered with remotely to cause damage.

Obviously, these aspects should be studied and should be called a cyber strategy that takes into account the intelligence components of the things that surround us.

CIA Director David Petraeus during a summit for In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital firm said has allerted the community about the emergence of an “Internet of Things”, he said:

“‘Transformational’ is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies,” 

“particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft.”

“Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters — all connected to the next-generation Internet using abundant, low cost, and high-power computing,” “the latter now going to cloud computing, in many areas greater and greater supercomputing, and, ultimately, heading to quantum computing.”

Clear the message sent from an exponent of intelligence. Agencies like the CIA are very interested to talk intelligence, the ability to intercept and steal secrets without any effort, simply accessing through an appliance or our gaming consoles. Although many agencies have a lot of legal restrictions against spying on American Citizens but in this area there is still to much to do.

Let’s consider ambient geolocation data from devices is a grayer area, especially after the 2008 carve-outs to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Manufacturers collect and store geolocation data coming from their devices, to easy for government track customer in this way.

If agencies like the CIA rejoice aware that they can have powerful new tools to monitor, new issues emerge on the front of the internal security of a nation. As pointed out, to share the same awareness, there are criminal organizations, groups of hackers and not the last hostile governments.
Imagine if in the future a virus instead of attacking your pc may take possession of your TV or worse can remotely manage your home automation system. They could remotely control your home, even worse, cause accidents, cause destruction.
We must take in care the diffusion of this utilities in a nation and we can correctly size the threat. As has been increased media attention on the vulnerabilities of critical structures, same approach must be followed to manage issue of intelligence computing of many commonly used devices.

I conclude with a reflection, considering that the technology component is steadily increasing in every sector in despite the crisis, it is expected to develop new opportunities for developing of home security systems linked to the management of the issues described … maybe near to counter of the utilities we soon find in our houses a firewall installed.
Who will manage this firewall? The big brother of course 😉
Pierluigi Paganini


facebook linkedin twitter

big brother CIA criminal organizations Critical infrastructures cyber Cyber attacks Cyber Crime cyber threat cyber threats Espionage Hackers Hacking Hacktivism Incident Intelligence malware Trojan virus

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 07, 2025
Taiwan flags security risks in popular Chinese apps after official probe
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 07, 2025
U.S. CISA adds Google Chromium V8 flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    New Batavia spyware targets Russian industrial enterprises

    Uncategorized / July 07, 2025

    Taiwan flags security risks in popular Chinese apps after official probe

    Security / July 07, 2025

    U.S. CISA adds Google Chromium V8 flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Hacking / July 07, 2025

    Hunters International ransomware gang shuts down and offers free decryption keys to all victims

    Cyber Crime / July 06, 2025

    SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 52

    Security / July 06, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT