Security and Privacy

Smartwatches use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to communicate with smartphones, while Wi-Fi and Bluetooth provide a signal to any computer within the range to receive it. Such open signals can present a security risk because of intercepted data, security breach, or unauthorized use. For these reasons, encrypting wireless signals is needed. Encryption involves disguising the data being transmitted so an intruder is unable to read the data and to understand their contents (Steinberg, 2015).

Smartwatches are vulnerable to cyberattack due to insufficient authentication, and lack of encryption, which also raise privacy concerns. According to a Smart Watch Security Study, some popular watches such as Apple, Samsung, and Sony are easily hacked [Smart Watches: Latest Tech Trend Carries Security Implications] (2016, February17). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/pqrl/docview/1765476843/fulltext/C035A89C59F8463EPQ/1?accountid=14541. Smartwatches are equipped with sensors and record personal data. It can also measure a person’s physical health such as heart beat and blood pressure. Privacy is a major concern as companies find ways to collect and use personal health, location and purchasing habits found on the wearable devices of their customers (Lindqvist, 2017).

Some companies have tried to improve security on mobile devices and wearables by equipping them with biometric recognition such as fingerprint readers and iris scanners. For example, Apple’s Touch ID on Apple Watch uses fingerprint scanner to perform user authentication. Samsung is also developing their systems specifically relates to a smartwatch performing user authentication using unique bio signals. There are also wearables that authenticate users on the basis of their heartbeat pattern. In the future, other internal signals from the body, such as DNA or the internal microbial community, may be paired with smartwatches so that the devices would unlock only when in close proximity to the owner. With these kinds of improved security, and many upgrades in communications networks, users in the future would stand a better chance in security (Austen, 2015).

Smartwatch measuring a person’s heart rate. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alcatel_OneTouch_Watch_Smartwatch_(16677312789).jpg