The technology that facilitates your daily life, from the smartphone in your hand to the car in your garage, may simultaneously be detrimental to you. Once the stuff of spy thrillers, consumer electronics can today be used as tools of control, tracking, or even warfare if they are manufactured in adversarial countries or linked to opaque systems.
Mandatory usage and dependence on technology in all facets of our lives has led to risks and vulnerabilities that are no longer hypothetical. In addition to being found in your appliances, phone, internet, electricity, and other utility services, connected technology is also integrated in your firmware, transmitted through your cloud services, and magnified over your social media feeds.
China's dominance in electronics manufacturing, which gives it enormous influence over the global tech supply chain, is a major cause for concern. Malware has been found pre-installed on electronic equipment exported from Chinese manufacturing. These flaws are frequently built into the hardware and cannot be fixed with a simple update.
These risks are genuine and cause for concern, according to former NSA director Mike Rogers: We know that China sees value in putting at least some of our key infrastructure at risk of disruption or destruction. I believe that the Chinese are partially hoping that the West's options for handling the security issue will be limited due to the widespread use of inverters.
A new level of complexity is introduced by autonomous cars. These rolling data centres have sensors, cameras, GPS tracking, and cloud connectivity, allowing for remote monitoring and deactivation. Physical safety and national infrastructure are at risk if parts or software come from unreliable sources. Even seemingly innocuous gadgets like fitness trackers, smart TVs, and baby monitors might have security flaws.
They continuously gather and send data, frequently with little security or user supervision. The Electronic Privacy Information Center's counsel, Suzanne Bernstein, stated that "HIPAA does not apply to health data collected by many wearable devices and health and wellness apps.”
The message is clear: even low-tech tools can become high-risk in a tech-driven environment. Foreign intelligence services do not need to sneak agents into enemy territory; they simply require access to the software supply chain. Malware campaigns such as China's APT41 and Russia's NotPetya demonstrate how compromised consumer and business software can be used for espionage and sabotage. Worse, these attacks are sometimes unnoticed for months or years before being activated—either during conflict or at times of strategic strain.