Cloud Privacy, Security, and Ethical Issues in Smart City Plans

This essay explores the ethical and security implications of implementing smart city technologies, focusing on the Australian government's proposed Smart State Plan. It delves into the use of smart sensors, public Wi-Fi hotspots, and digital identity systems, highlighting potential issues such as privacy violations, data security risks, and social inequalities. The essay examines how smart sensors can collect personal data, raising concerns about surveillance and data breaches. It also discusses the vulnerabilities of public Wi-Fi networks to cyberattacks and the potential for digital identity systems to be compromised. The author reflects on the positive aspects of these technologies, such as increased punctuality and reduced crime rates, but emphasizes the need for robust security measures and ethical considerations to protect citizens' privacy and ensure equitable access to these services. The essay also provides recommendations for individuals to safeguard their personal information while using public Wi-Fi networks and digital identity systems, such as using VPNs, encrypting devices, and enabling two-factor authentication.

Running head: CLOUD PRIVACY AND SECURITY
Cloud Privacy and Security
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Q1. Smart Sensors:
The smart sensor is a special type of device which gathers input from its physical
environment and use the built-in components to calculate the desired output depending on the
input taken (Suryadevara et al. 2015). Smart sensors are able to collect high quality
environmental data with less noise. This types of devices are used to monitor various types of
environments and the control mechanism of the environment. This smart sensor is highly
used in smart cities in present days. In a smart city, the data is collected from the citizens and
from their personal devices to analyse the data, and it is used to manage traffic and transport
system, waste management system, water supply management system and other community
services. Assuming that the Australian Government has proposed a Smart State Plan
following the Smart Nation Plan of Singapore Government some ethical issues can arise with
it (Wey and Hsu 2014). First when this new idea is implemented there will be various types
of issues with the normal citizens of Australia. There will be two types of people who will be
affected by this program. The old citizens of Australia will be affected by this program as
they are not so aware of the new technologies in the world. They might need a long time to be
an active part of this system. Other types of the peoples are the poor peoples of Australia. To
use this type of services smart electronic devices are also needed. They might not have the
sufficient money to buy the required electronic gadget. In this case, I think it is not a proper
way to implement this system. The system should be implemented in a way that everyone can
use the facilities because there needs to be a compatible device to use the smart sensors. The
Smart State Plan will have some good implementations. It can be expected that the citizens of
Australia will have a massive behavioural change in them. After implementing the Smart
State Plan successfully, they might be more sensitive than before. People should follow the
proper signalling and speed limit of the roads. They might use the dustbin properly which
will help to keep the city clean and the main benefit of the Smart State Plan that will be

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achieved as the low rate of crime than before. From my personal implication, it is good to see
that people will be more sensitive than before. Following the proper traffic signals peoples
can avoid accidents, and for me, the most satisfying part will be the lower crime rate after the
implementation of the Smart State Plan, but there can be some personal privacy issues with it
(Zhang et al. 2015). The cameras of the city will be able to monitor my movements and my
habits which is not a good thing for me. Also, the smart sensors of dustbin are able to track
my dumping history which is a very awkward thing for me. The Smart State Plan of the
Australian Government can bring change in the individual behaviour of the citizens. It can be
expected that the citizens of Australia will be more punctual after implementing this system.
This system will also make the city safer at late nights. In this case from my side, I think
punctuality is necessary for every people, and this system will make the Australian citizens
more punctual as the transportation system will be punctual at the time (Siergiejczyk, Paś and
Rosiński 2014). People might hang out at late nights without any worries as they will be
secured by the smart sensor network. From my point of view, this Smart State Plan will give
many benefits to its citizens but will have many ethical issues with it. The first issue arises
with the privacy of the citizens. The smart sensors will collect the data from the citizens and
from the external environment. The main question is the safety of this data collected by the
smart sensors (De Gante, Aslan and Matrawy 2014). The security of this data is in doubt as
this might can be hacked. Successful hacking of those data can expose the vulnerability of
any individual citizen to the hackers (Moore et al. 2014). In this network, my personal details
might be uploaded in the near future which is not a good thing for me. My personal info
might be collected over the network which can do several damages to me if the information
hacked by any hacker. Another ethical issue is that the settings of the smart sensors and the
cameras can be altered physically any time and this can be the cause of a massive disruption
in the city, and the hackers can take advantage of the situation and can damage to the citizens

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(Meijer, Makinwa and Pertijs 2014). Also, it is not sure that this smart sensors hardware will
always give the perfect output. It may give wrong information which can lead to problems for
the citizens. Personally, for me, this smart sensor network can give a big advantage to a city
and to its citizens, but these networks need to be implemented perfectly without any internal
network flaws and also it needs to secure enough that it cannot be hacked easily by the
hackers.
Q2. Wi-Fi Hotspots:
Wi-Fi covered city is one step towards the digitisation of the city. It is another way of
connecting the whole city. Wi-Fi hotspots can give the internet access to all the portions of
the city, even that portions where the network is not available (Seufert et al. 2016). The
Government of Australia is now ready to connect the whole city with the internet using the
smart Wi-Fi network. This network will be a heterogeneous type of network. A
heterogeneous type of network can consist of different types of an operating system which
makes the network independent of the operating system (Singh, Dhillon and Andrews 2013).
Using this type of network almost every people can get access to the internet. Still, there are
some citizens who will be affected by this Wi-Fi hotspot proposal. For using the Wi-Fi
hotspot service peoples need to use the electronic device which can catch the Wi-Fi signals.
Many peoples lack this type of electronic devices, or they might not be capable of buying
these type of devices. Covering the whole city with Wi-Fi hotspot means in near future
majority of the task might be taking place over the internet. It is indicating that for this the
peoples who were not able to buy or use an electronic device will be affected by the Wi-Fi
hotspot program. From my side, making the whole city Wi-Fi enabled is a very good
futuristic step taken by the Government, but the Government should also do something to
include the peoples also who will be not able to use Wi-Fi hotspot service due to some
barriers. It might be seen that after the successful implementation of the Wi-Fi hotspot

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networks average usage of the mobile among the normal citizens will be increased in the
CBD are of Australia. Afterwards, the Wi-Fi network installation the citizens might prefer to
perform maximum tasks over the internet (Fischer et al. 2015). The internet awareness should
be increased among the citizens. It might be seen that the numbers of online shopping
increased in the city and people might like to enjoy various services sitting in their home. The
Wi-Fi service might bring a good service to the citizens but as per my opinions it is
restricting the face to face interaction. Citizens of Australia will be dependent on their
electronic devices more. Besides many good things, this public Wi-Fi hotspot program brings
many types of security and data issues. There are numerous security cases of public Wi-Fi
hotspots where the hackers used the vulnerability of the network and performed various
cybercrimes (Raju and Nair 2015). As an example, if I use a public Wi-Fi network and me
login in my bank account through the public network, then the username and password can be
saved in this network. A hacker can easily enter in this network and can act as me on the
network by the IP and MAC spoofing technique (Vijayakumar et al. 2014). Therefore the
network might give the access of my saved username and passwords of my bank to the
hacker. Therefore the hacker can easily log into my bank account. This is not only applicable
for the bank account, the hacker can hack my social media accounts and can hack the data
history stored in my device. To ensure my security over the public Wi-Fi network, I must not
share my personal account information over a public network. I can use a public network for
login in my personal account. In such emergency cases where I need to login in some of my
personal accounts over the public network, I should ensure that no passwords or username is
saved on the network. It will be better to use a VPN while using this type of public networks
(Mahalingaiah 2013). Also, like the smartphones, the Wi-Fi hotspots have a tracking module
installed in it. Using the hotspot networks, the Government can track my movements which is
a potential security issue of mine. The tracking method of the public Wi-Fi can lead to third-

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party issues like stalking. To use the service often this type of network wants the personal
information of the user which can be shared with advertisers for sending the annoying ads
(Goldstein et al. 2014). This hotspot can use my personal data illegally to see my browsing
details, can sell my data to some third party organization and the data can be hacked by the
hackers. To avoid this type of cases, I can encrypt my device which I am connecting to the
public network. This will help me to ensure my privacy. Another thing I should do to ensure
my safety over the public network is that I can use private browsing while using public
networks, can use two-step authentication and I can set notification alert whenever my
account will be accessed.
Q3. Digital Identity:
The Digital Identity is a set of an entity or some kind of information which is used for
verification purpose by a digital device. The digital identity can be used to verifying the
identity of an organisation, device, application and of a person. The digital identity allows
verifying a device, organization and persons over the web without any human assistance
(Williams et al. 2013). In most of the cases, the digital identity system is used by the
Government to verify its citizen. The digital identity system can be used to the online activity
of a person on the internet. Thus sometime it might be also referred to as online identity.
After implementing the Smart State Plan by the Australian Government, the digital identity
system is also introduced as an integral part of this program. The digital identity system has
many advantages for the citizens and also has many disadvantages. From my side of view, I
think there might be many privacy-related issues that can arise while using the digital identity
using my mobile phone. For the issues, I think the digital identity will fail to maintain my
privacy while I am visiting the state capital of Australia. I think there is the sufficient number
of reasons for which the digital identity program might fail to ensure my privacy and the
reasons are discussed below.

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 Authentication Theft: A possible issue which can arise in the digital identity
program is the authentication issue (Wen, Guo and Li 2014). A hacker can use the
digital identity of another honest person to impersonate and take advantage of the
honest background of the person. In this way, an attacker can impersonate me and can
use my identity to login in my private accounts.
 Identity misuse: The digital identity system uses a system to verify an individual
over the web (Smith and Hutchings 2014). That means the system has all the identity
database stored in it. In such type of cases, the system needs to very much secure.
Otherwise, the data from the system server can be misused for various reason which
can include my digital identity too.
 Identity tampering: Another issue which can arise in the digital identity system is
the identity tampering. To establish a secure communication network it needs to
ensure that there is no third person sitting in between the server and the receiver. In
this case, security issue can arise if the attacker is somehow able to change or tamper
the original data while it is being transferred through the network (Toth 2017). A
tampered or modified data can also modify my credentials if the target of the attacker
is me. Tampering with the original data can give the attacker access to my private
information associated with the digital identity.
 Identity Revocation: The digital identity system lacks the use practical use of
revocation in their system. This revocation system could have contributed some extra
security to the digital identity system. The digital identity system provider could have
verified the user credentials after a certain period of time to ensure the data integrity
of the digital identity of the user. Lacking this feature means it is creating a loophole
in the whole system. The obsolete database can create many problems in digital
identity system. The digital identity system needs to revocation every time it is

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accessing a sensitive data. From my side, the digital identity system should have a
validity for certain period of time, and after such period time, the revocation system
should initiate to continue its usage. Lacking the revocation system can cause of the
identity theft which is leading to privacy issue of a digital identity user.
 Detection of the network: The whole process of the using digital identity needs to
ensure that it is totally undetectable by the hacker. It is described as the message
should visible in the network, but the hacker will be unable to distinguish between the
digital identity messages and random message. In certain times this types of messages
are detected by the attackers, and they hack into someone’s personal data and info.
This same thing can also happen to me while I am using the digital identity service
using my mobile.
 Public Network Vulnerability: Using the digital identity system on a public network
is the most unsecured way to use it. A hacker can simply hack into a public network
and can monitor the usage of my digital identity (Rodríguez-Núñez and García-
Palomares 2014). Therefore from that, he can easily access my personal credentials
which are linked to my digital identity.
Q4. Security and privacy controls:
The digital identity is very much important for some individuals to ensure the full
protection of the network while using the mobile device. I have faced many problems while
using the mobile phone in this type of network environment. From the issues, I have learned
to secure my mobile phone in this type of network. According to me the discussed part in the
following section can help me secure my digital identity in the aspect of privacy and security.
 Strong Passwords: To make a very secure password, the password needs to at least 8
characters of length. Avoiding names and phone number in the password, it must be

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followed. To make the passwords more secure, I have used uppercase letters, lower
case letters and special characters (De Carnavalet and Mannan 2014).
 Antivirus Software: The firewall function of an antivirus software helped me to
secure my mobile phone from external threats (Rhodes-Ousley 2013).
 Updating the software: It needs to ensure that the software of the mobile should be
updated all the time. I always keep my mobile phone software up-to-date because the
updated files always have the recent security patches. This type of software includes
the operating system of the mobile phone, browser and antivirus software. Updating
the software benefits me by protecting me from critical external attacks.
 Security Settings: I always check my social media settings to see who can see my
data. In many cases, the software may be updated, but the security settings may be set
to default. In my case, I always check my security settings and change it according to
my needs. These things need to follow ensure the security of digital identity.
 Posting sensitive data: Sometimes people posts various sensitive data on their social
media sites without knowing that this data can be used to hack their mobile phone.
Remembering this thing on my mind, I never post sensitive data on my social media
sites. Not me only, everyone need to ensure that what they are posting on their social
media site must not contain any sensitive data.
 Fake websites: There are several fake websites on the internet, and everyone needs to
very much alert when they are browsing the internet (Zahedi, Abbasi and Chen 2015).
I receive many e-mails which contain a website link. I never click on those type of
links because they can lead me to a fake website and can steal my data rather than I
type those URL in my protected browser to check authenticity. This helps me to
ensure my privacy in the type of network environment.

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 Encrypting devices: Encryption is another great way to ensure my security and
privacy. Encrypting devices is a bit lengthy process, but after competition, it gives the
most secure way to use my mobile phone (Shrinivasan and Chacko 2014).
 Following https websites: I always follow the https:// websites rather than following
http:// websites. Https:// websites are more secure compared to http:// websites and
also http:// websites may have some certificate issue. For that my recommendation is
not to visit such URLs starting with https://.
 Checking e-mail properly: I always check my e-mail properly in the regular basis.
Because this e-mails can contain my login details and my login notifications which
arrives at my e-mail id. From this e-mail, I can always track my social media
accounts. If there is any suspicious activity, I can track that activity instantly. Instant
tracking those type of data gives me a huge advantage that the attacker will not able to
complete their activity. Also, the e-mail contains many types of spam e-mail which
can contain phishing links. This type of phishing link can lead to us fake website
which actually looks like the original website (Higbee, Belani and Greaux 2014).
Using this type of fake website the hacker can instantly retrieve my login details. For
that, I always verify this type of links before proceeding further. It needs to ensure
that everyone should follow the above requirements to ensure their security and
privacy in the aspect of digital identity.

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