The project is one of the best examples of an ambient device that is extremely useful to man but also has potential threats that could pose to be malicious.

Created: October 31st, 2019

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Meet Nick.

  

Nick lives in the busy city of New York. He uses the tube to get to work and lives in the 4th floor of an apartment. Nick loves his life.

  

 

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One fine day, Nick returns home to see that his house was broken into. He quickly storms inside to see that his house had been turned over, and a few valuables missing. Devastated, Nick quickly filed a police complaint on the robbery and missing items.

  

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Shocked and in despair, Nick decided to invest on securing his house in a smart and intelligent way. He decided to buy the AmbiLock 500.

  

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The AmbiLock 500 is an IoT based ambient device which serves as a smart security system. It comprises of a Particle Argon serving as the microcontroller and consists of multiple enhanced functions.

AmbiLock 500 functions:

1. Can be unlocked by proximity. The user has the key, which is RFID based, and the door is unlocked when user is nearby.

2. Can be unlocked by Google, Siri or even Alexa. The voice commands on your phone can be used to unlock the door.

3. Possesses streaming capabilities which can be viewed on the user’s phone.

4. Keeps tabs on the people attempting to open the door through force.

5. Holds a database of time of entry along with number of people.

  

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Thus, without interfering in Nick’s life, AmbiLock provided a sense of security for Nick. He could leave the house by just shutting the door and AmbiLock’s auto lock system would take care of it. He could just walk in without needing to search for his keys, and he could also keep tabs on his package deliveries etc. through the streaming system. 

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Life resumed normalcy, and Nick was finally in peace after facing a horrific experience of a robbery.

  


But all that glitters are not gold as this smart intelligent system came with a big threat. 

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The AmbiLock is connected to the Internet and has been assigned an IP address by the local router. This could be tapped into by hackers thus leaking private data of the user. Nick’s privacy has just been leaked into the Internet. Nick’s is aware of the threats of the internet yet chooses not to deal with it as it’s a one in a million case. Hackers can ping into the IP address of a device and can use it to extract data from that router. Not only can they hack into data, based on the routers address, they can pinpoint the location of this device too. Thus, Nick’s address is now on the Internet.

  

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Another issue with the smart and elegant system is the use of RFID tags for auto unlock. RFID tags sometimes pose to be glitchy, and recreating tag IDs maybe a cumbersome yet possible task. Another region of severe threat is calmly ignored due to its minor chance of occurrence.

Finally, the dependence on mobile phones could be problematic. Whilst its well protected, losing a phone or leaving it unlocked with the wrong surrounding could pose some serious issues. 

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All these problems are well masked by the sensational ambient device. It provided optimal security and comes as a package deal. It serves to protect you and your home. Nick has never felt more secure than now. With the AmbiLock protecting his house, Nick goes to work with a sane piece of mind. But who’s protecting AmbiLock from the darknet?

  

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A: Nick is robbed.

B: Nick is devastated and feels insecure.

C: Nick buys AmbiLock 500.

D: A sense of security and safety grows in Nick.

E: Nick realizes the security issues of the AmbiLock.

F: He overthinks the situation for one second and then realizes it won't harm him.

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The project is one of the best examples of an ambient device that is extremely useful to man but also has potential threats that could pose to be malicious.