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Your Smart Home Devices Are Putting You at Risk

The range and scope of smart home devices continues to grow. Smart devices have taken over giphy homes, offices and schools all over the world. Maybe you’re using the occasional home assistant like Amazon’s Alexa or Google’s Home or even, Siri on your iPhone. Perhaps, instead of using a key to enter your office or home, you are required to enter a code on your smart lock. Smart devices have become mainstream and everyone is in search of the next gadget that will allow them to control locks, lights and even refrigerators, from their phone. However, there are some risks associated with these devices and ways to protect yourself. Here are some:

Hacking into security camera

wyze-3 (1) In 2019, a video of a young girl speaking to a voice coming from inside her room went viral. In the video, a man tells the girl from a speaker that he is Santa Claus and encourages her to misbehave. The video is from the family’s Ring security camera that was installed in the 8-year old’s bedroom a few days before the incident. The man had taken advantage of Rings two-way talk function. Across the United States, incidents like this one have become increasingly common.

Al-Harib Security Systems, a security solution company in Qatar that offers smart home solutions, suggests that you secure the network you are connected to. They suggest that you change the username and password given to you by your internet provider and after, regularly change your password.

Police surveillance

giphy (1) In 2019, The Washington Post reported that Amazon’s home security company, Ring, is in partnership with more than 600 police departments in the United States. These partnerships allow the police to “quickly request and download” video recording from home owners Ring devices. However, many people have expressed discomfort in law enforcement possibly confiscating recording of them for cases. The Washington Post reported a large issue arises when law enforcement can keep footage and share it without providing evidence that there has been a crime. Experts suggest that check with your smart home security provider if they are working with law enforcement or a third party and what terms they have in place.

Information on home assistants

Smart home assistants have widely been popular over the last few years. They have been designed to make your life easier, by assisting you in making calls, getting your news and even ordering food. Your home assistant holds very valuable and sensitive information about you, your family and your friends. If your home assistant is accessed, hackers can get information from numbers of your phone to your credit card information.

Experts suggest that you update your devices as regularly. Manufactures regularly make updates after identifying a security issue and you need to ensure that your home assistant is up-to-date. Most importantly, learn more about what your home assistant has access to and what it can do so you can perhaps limit that access or go for another home assistant.

This Startup Aims to Redefine Your Health Care Experience

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Rimads, health care startup, is using artificial intelligence and advanced computer science techniques to diagnose patients, cut waiting time and deliver over-the-counter drugs.
Rimads has launched their home delivery application for over-the-counter drugs but two applications are still being developed.
Rimads hopes to reimagine patient’s health care experiences.

Around the world, machine-enabled health care has swept the industry.

Here in Qatar, Mohammad Hammoud, Assistant Teaching Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), is hoping to save lives through his artificial intelligence (AI) system. Hammoud is developing an AI system that will provide patients with an initial assessment of their condition and eliminate the need for patients to make the first visit to the hospital to see a general practitioner. Instead, patients will be informed of potential conditions and then, if needed, they will be directed to a specialist.

This the first part of Rimads’ ecosystem.

Next, Hammoud hopes to cut waiting time and directly connect patients to doctors. The application will allow patients to make appointments with the best possible doctor to treat their condition at a hospital or medical clinic near them.

Last in this process is an application that delivers over-the-counter products to your home. This recently launched application by Rimads allows users to order products ranging from pain relievers, supplements and skincare to baby products.

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In an effort to promote the platform, Rimads held a “Dermatology and Skin Health Day” at Qatar Science and Technology Park. The event offered the public free dermatology and medical checkups from Ryhan Medical Complex and Marble Medical Center. Skincare and beauty brands like Bioderma, Clarins, The Face Shop and Qatar based brand, Karisma, offered free skin consultation and samples of their products.

“We are hoping this event both promotes the app and establishes a relationship with these brands because we would like to have their products on the app,” said Faisal Mir, Operational Lead at Rimads.

Rimads is not the only company offering home delivery for over-the-counter medicine in Qatar. Wellcare Online Pharmacy also offers home delivery for both prescribed and over-the-counter medicine.

When asked what makes Rimads different, Mir said, “Rimads is specialized and customer centric. First, we offer products that you won’t find on other apps. We also offer consultation with a licensed pharmacist. You can ask them any question and they will recommend you a product from the app.”

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Although the delivery app is available to the public, a large part of Rimads ecosystem is still in the developmental stage.

Youssef Kanbour, Computational Medical Specialist, is working on Rimads sister application. For now, they are calling it “Phoenix”.

“My job is to make sure that the questions we are asking patients on the app are written in a way that reflects what we are trying to find,” said Kanbour. To help achieve this, Rimads employees a full-time doctor and biologist.

Finding employees to work on the application with him was a large struggle for Hammoud. However, as a professor at CMU-Q, he scouted for many of his employees at the university. Mir and Kanbour joined Rimads as fresh graduates.

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Why work at a struggling start-up? Part of the answer is the opportunity to build something from the ground up, says Mir. He was interviewing for multiple jobs when he was approached by Hammoud. Mir now leads a team of six.

Hammoud hopes that “Phoenix” will make doctors work with patients quicker and easier. He explained that the application will gather information on the patient’s symptoms so doctors can focus more on the patient’s experience.

However, doctors are still worried that incorporating AI systems in hospital rooms will lead to their insignificance. However, Mir hopes that the AI systems will make the doctor’s role more important.

“The view of people is that technology is trying to replace general practitioners, take away the human experience with people. I think that at Rimads, we’re empowering patients with accurate data and increasing communication between them and doctors,” he said.

Rimads will start rolling out “Phoenix” next month. “The idea is that we will launch parts of the ecosystem one after the other,” said Hammoud.

Until then, Rimads is working on making the application’s AI system more accurate than their competitors.