Cloud Privacy and Security: Implications of Smart City Initiatives

This report delves into the cloud privacy and security implications of the New South Wales government's smart city plan, examining the ethical and personal impacts of smart sensor and Wi-Fi networks. It explores the potential for behavioral changes among citizens, including shifts in activities and schedules, and discusses the types of individuals affected. The report highlights concerns about data misuse, cyberattacks, and the protection of sensitive information on mobile devices. It investigates the importance of maintaining privacy and security through digital identity management. The analysis also considers the impact of smart technologies on daily life, including potential benefits like improved services and security, as well as risks to creativity and productivity. The report concludes with a comprehensive overview of the challenges and strategies for ensuring privacy and security in a smart city environment.

Running head: Cloud Privacy And Security
Cloud Privacy And Security

Cloud Privacy And Security 1
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Personal and Ethical implications on the privacy of the proposed Smart Sensor Network implemented by
the Government of New South Wales on :..................................................................................................3
(a) The type and classes of the people affected by it.........................................................................3
(b)Behavioral changes expected from the normal citizens.......................................................................3
(c) Expected Changes in the individual behaviors such as choice of activities and changes in the time
schedules.................................................................................................................................................4
Personal and ethical implications regarding the privacy of the proposed Smart WiFi Network on:............5
(a)Types or categories of people affected by the proposal.......................................................................5
(b)Behavioral changes expected from the normal citizens using their mobile devices............................5
(c) Expected Changes in the individual behaviors such as choice of activities and changes in the time
schedules.................................................................................................................................................6
(d)Implications of having sensitive information in the mobile which we are not willing to share...........7
Maintenance of privacy while using the smartphones after the implementation of the state plan................8
Steps taken to ensure the security and privacy of the digital identity while operating the mobiles in the
environment...............................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11
References.................................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
The Smart Nation Plan of Singapore is about the technological changes bought in the country by
the government. The government aims at empowering its economy with the help of digital
innovation. It wants to ensure that all the segments of the society are capable of using the digital
technologies and using benefits from them. The plan for implementing the digital transformation
throughout the economy of the country is detailed in the Digital Economy Framework for
Action, the Digital Readiness Blueprint and Digital Government Blueprint. These three plans are
the important pillars which work together for supporting the Smart Nation goals of
Singapore( Orange City Council, 2018).
In this context, after reviewing the Smart Nation Plan of Singapore, the government of New
South Wales has decide to develop certain strategies to minimize the incidences of assault and
malicious damage. It shall consist of installing a network of smart sensors and cameras at the
traffic lights so that the behavior of the citizens can be observed and street crimes can be
addressed. It shall also reduce the incidences of stealing the public property or harm to the
citizens of the state. The plan shall be implemented through a Council which would be in
partnership with the other agencies and reports provided by the Community Safety and Crime
Prevention Committee (Guitton, 2013).
So, in this article, the various aspects of the implementation of the plan shall be discussed in the
light of affected shareholders and reactions of the citizens of the state.It will also discuss the
implications of the Smart Wifi Network as proposed to be implemented by the Government on
the privacy of data held by the common man of the state.

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Personal and Ethical implications on the privacy of the proposed Smart Sensor Network
implemented by the Government of New South Wales on :
(a) The type and classes of the people affected by it
The ethical implications of the data registered in the sensors would prejudice the private life of
the individuals. As the data registered in the sensors would be sent in various quantities and in
various ways through the networks, the geographical place to where a person belongs and his
movements can be traced without his knowledge. Furthermore, even if the information is
collected with the consent of the person for medical uses can be misused by the authorities. The
individual profiles can be created which would be based on their consumption habits and they
might be misused by the outsiders for decision making (Jang-Jaccard & Nepal, 2014).
If it is related to the accessibility of the information by a virus or hacker, then it might pose a
hazard on the life of the people affected by it. For example, an interference in the control system
of a car can threaten the life of the passengers traveling in it (Popescul & Georgescu, 2014).
Hence the communication of one device to another shall create an impact on the lives of the
people as there is no legal framework to restrict its limits.
(b)Behavioral changes expected from the normal citizens
With the advancement in the technology, the even a garbage bin has been connected with the
sensors to collect information of the people throwing garbage in it. As the city gets smarter it
gets more prone to cyber-attacks. So the stakeholders affected by this technology have become
more aware and informed about their activities. It has greatly hindered their privacy.

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The smart sensor technology uses the technology such as urban sensing which captures the
interaction of the people with each other and their surroundings and tracking which records their
movements. Apart from this, the mobile phones help the companies to detect the personal
preferences of the users which have raised serious implications on the privacy of the people and
the right to self-determination.
But the positive impact of the smart sensor technology on people can be it would be able to make
their lives convenient by detecting their location. It would help them to move easily and manage
the traffic in an efficient way (Quigley, Burns & Stallard, 2015).
(c) Expected Changes in the individual behaviors such as choice of activities and changes in
the time schedules
The implementation of the smart sensor technology can change the methods of doing things by
the people of New South Wales. The attitudes, opinion and behaviors of the people would
critically be affected if they care about the protection of their data, privacy and other social
issues as opposed to the benefits provided in terms of conservation of energy, public safety and
reduced costs.
However, it is predicted that it would not be easy to opt out from the system but people can
change their scheduled activities or timings at which they act in a specific way. For example, If
they go the office by their car at a particular time in the morning and come back in the evening at
a particular time , then they would change their schedule for some days and go to the office by
bus so that their activities are not being observed and their privacy is not being hindered.

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Personal and ethical implications regarding the privacy of the proposed Smart WiFi
Network on:
(a)Types or categories of people affected by the proposal
Since Wi-Fi networks are used in a wide range of areas such as home, offices, logistics, control
and management, monitoring of the environment, healthcare, tourism and travel, education,
entertainment.
As most of the devices and applications are wireless in nature, the security and privacy
considerations play a major role in the ethical and personal implications on the people. It also
increases the sensitivity due to the involvement of the humans. The data obtained by the
individuals with or without their consent due to the necessity of the system may misuse it. It
limits the people from taking advantage of the full benefits of the system. The people may not
see these systems to be safe in their routine use. There are probabilities of social unrest and fear
as these devices are used by the agencies of the government and other private organizations for
tracking and monitoring the activities of the individuals.
(b)Behavioral changes expected from the normal citizens using their mobile devices
The smart sensor Wi-Fi networks have breached the privacy of the people. With the prediction,
that data collection shall penetrate them into the life of the people even more deeply and a new
set of linkable and identifiable data shall be introduced, the involvement of the people might
change in a qualitative manner.
In this case, where smartphones and social networks shall require a significant amount of
participation and awareness, they shall be passive and unaware about the collection of data due

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to the predicted flood of smart things. The citizens would behave in an artificial way as they
would be conscious of the technology watching their steps and acts. It may lead to suspicion,
destruction of public property and theft (May, Koski & Stramp, 2016).
(c) Expected Changes in the individual behaviors such as choice of activities and changes in
the time schedules
The expected behavior of the individuals may change due to the installation of sensors in their
mobiles. For example, in a dining hall, the consumers can see a better quality of service in terms
of faster-completed orders and good quality of food. The transparency created a positive
feedback thereby generating value for both the groups. It will also generate a sense of security
for the citizens and fear amongst the criminals (Williams & Woodward, 2015).
But it may also have a negative consequence as the people may be likely to do what is expected
of them. It can also threaten the creativity and productivity in the workplace. Similarly, the
assembly line workers will hide the cross-training experiments and their fruitful time saving so
that they can avoid giving an explanation to everybody who might be supervising them through
these devices (Sales, 2013).
It might also affect the track record of the police officers who might be totally dependent upon
the mobile smart sensors for detecting the theft and the thieves behind the crime.

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(d)Implications of having sensitive information in the mobile which we are not willing to
share
Since wireless systems are more prone to cyber-attacks as anyone with the radio can
communicate with the wireless device from some distance. If somebody is possessing some
personal information in their mobile phones which they do not want to share, then the installation
of smart Wi-Fi sensors may pose a threat to such devices (Ward, Ibarra & Ruddle, 2013).
There are chances of hacking or attack as anyone with a computer can launch an attack from
distant places as compared to any other radio signal. The information can be used to defame
others or can be misused by the competitors in case it contains some trade secrets or secret
formulas for manufacturing a product or service. Thus it can hinder its confidentiality and
integrity. The information can be altered, modified or its main content can be deleted (Bernstein,
2014).
There are possibilities of losing the authenticity of the information being transferred from one
device to another. The information related to everyday applications can also be altered or
misused which can lead to catastrophic disasters. The information regarding the production
levels or status of the equipment can have some competitive sensitivity (Zeadally, Yu, Jeong &
Liang, 2012).
Apart from this, the command information can be misused by the hackers. If it is indicated that
the tank level is 55 cm or the controller system is instructed to turn the valve to 130 degrees then
losing one of the digits or adding one by some mischievous element can lead to disasters( Aloul
et al.,2012).

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Furthermore, the consequences of a poor security are not always easy to predict. It is easier for
an untrustworthy party to trace the private information from the data they receive from the smart
sensors of the phone. Some of the apps which are based on future updates of the operating
system of the onboard computer of the phone may steal the confidential information from the
phones (Dupont, 2013).
Thus the installation of smart sensor technology will enable the system to record with the
microphone, monitor the location of the user, extract data and take photographs without the
knowledge of the user (Ibikunle & Eweniyi, 2013).
Maintenance of privacy while using the smartphones after the implementation of the state
plan
As per Souppaya & Scarfone (2013), the use of digital identity shall maintain the privacy of the
smartphones used by adopting a general policy which pertains to implementing the enterprise

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security policies and procedures on the mobile phone such as limiting the access to hardware and
software and the management of wireless network interfaces. Restrictions will be implemented
for monitoring, reviewing, detecting and reporting the policy violations.
Proper authentication of users and devices is required prior to the access of the data of the mobile
devices and resetting of the forgotten passwords. The permission of the users is also required in
the cases of automatically locking the idle devices and locking the unsuspected devices.The
restrictions on the app stores for the installation of the applications and restricting the permission
which are assigned to each application should also be installed (Temming, 2018).
Appropriate provisions must also be implemented for restricting the use of synchronization
services and the verification of digital signatures on the applications along with the distribution
of the applications from a mobile app store. Certain security aspects such as connectivity,
protection, application functionality, authentication, logging and performance shall be analyzed
during the implementation of the plan (Sohal et al., 2018).
Another consideration for the security of mobile phones is that all the components are updated
with latest patches and are configured by following effective security practices. It should also be
ensured that the mobile devices do not fall back to the default settings.Processes should also be
implemented for checking the up gradation of the software and patches and acquiring the testing
plans and deploying them on the devices prior to retrieving data from them( EY,2016).
Other important programs should be related to keeping track of each mobile device ,their users
and applications , revoking the access and deleting the application which has been already
installed but has been accessed as risky for usage and deleting the sensitive information from the
mobile device before reissuing it to others to use (Wilson, Hargreaves & Baldwin, 2017).

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Steps taken to ensure the security and privacy of the digital identity while operating the
mobiles in the environment
As per Elmaghraby & Losavio (2014), the first step taken for the safety and security of the
smartphones is the permission to personalize the operating system for each user. It will have the
advantage that the hackers will not be able to easily crack the security levels of all the mobile
phones in one go whereas its disadvantage is that it is harder to control the security for every
device, thereby exposing more users to probable cybersecurity hazards (Gai, Qiu & Hassan,
2017).
The second step is adopting a careful approach while browsing the web on the smartphones .
While surfing the net, there are many ads popping up on the websites. The ad blockers shall be
installed as they can be exploited by cybercriminals. An interesting fact about this is that the
users do not have to click on anything in order to get affected by these. The advantage of
installing ad blockers is that they claim to block the ad servers which can also be malware. They
can also act to minimize the data usage of the user’s mobile along with speeding up the
frequency of the page loading.The disadvantage is that these ad blockers contribute to the
removal of the only mode of earning available for the internet publishers for maintaining their
sites and paying the wages( Hsu & Marinucci, 2012).
Use of two factor authentication should be enabled while conducting any sensitive transaction on
the phones. They generally use passwords which have the disadvantages as they can be
forgotten, guessed, written down or stolen. The advantages of using these passwords are that
they provide a higher level of security as a higher level may be important for sensitive
transactions (Jouini & Rabai, 2016).

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Another threat to the security of mobile phones is that wireless transmissions are not encrypted.
The information like the emails which are sent through the phones is not encrypted while they
are in transit. Mobile phones should be protected with the help of passwords. But they have some
disadvantages too. Due to the encryption, the phones can become slower since the speed can
decrease depending upon the hardware of the phone (Maple, 2017).
Conclusion
Hence to conclude, it can be said that cybersecurity is an essential pillar in a smart city. As more
governments are taking interest in adopting smart concepts in the cities but at the same time, it is
a challenging task to keep pace with rapid changes in the digital world. In this context, there is a
vulnerability to cyber security with the magnification of the cyber threats.