The myriad measures we have taken for the security of our personal data may be making our daily life a bit more difficult. However, it should not be forgotten that everyday a new information stealing and intelligence method is being developed against every measure taken.

While we are spending so much time and effort in the simplest terms on our personal data, what can be the level  for institutions, communities and moreover for countries to ensure information security?

Protecting the information and against it, the intelligence activities carried out in order to acquire information bring to mind military and political issues firstly. When we have a look to NATO’s security structure for the sake of generalization, Information Security is at the top level under Basic Security heading, along with Physical Security, Personnel Security, Procedure Security and Document Security. In a subdivision, Information Security (InfoSec) contains Computer Security (CompuSec) and Communication Security (ComSec) components. Afterwards, the different security sub-units created for different threats, branching out as we go over the details …

So what are the threats that require so much precautions?

It is impossible to tell all the threats so long here, but I can clearly say that as we are discussing these issues now, some new intelligence methods are being developped somewhere… But in general, we can summarize the issue as seizing the information from involuntary emanations (passive intelligence) and attacting to information secured against unauthorized access (active intelligence).

Today, while corporations and organizations are struggling to prevent unauthorized access to data in computers primarily, thinking that they are safe by using firewalls and antiviruses, in fact, information is spreading around as emanations. For the unauthorized persons who are in passive listening mode, they only accumulate the information free in the environment with their technical capabilities. An old technology, “listenning to what is spoken in the environment by remote laser signals, by means of transducing the vibration generated on the glass into significant voice and texts (optical intelligence)” can still be utopian for somebody today. In the same way, using TEMPEST technology (obtaining information from electromagnetic emanations) to get the information from IT devices such as computer screens, hard drives, printers, scanners, etc., remotely from a distance of tens of meters, is still attractive, however it is first used in the 1960s.

“Emotional” analysis with wireless data signals: EQ-Radio …

You must have read the news that a group of scientists at MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have conducted studies on analyzing emotions by sending wireless data signals and have 87% successful results. With the wireless signals sent, they can detect the excited, sad or irritated moods of the people. There is no doubt that this technology, called EQ-Radio, will be actively used to get more detailed information in the close future. The fact that wireless modems are widespread in every environment we are entering, will force you to embrace “what information can be gathered with the signals sent from the modems”. While we continue to feel safe with the antiviruses and firewalls we set, honestly, we live in an era when we can not guarantee that the information in our mind is not captured.

This article was published in periodical “Science and Technology to Everybody (Herkese Bilim Teknoloji)”, November 18, 2016