By Tom Kirkham
In an age of hacking, ID fraud, phishing, pharming, darkmail, spyware and ransomware, it's important not to forget that old-fashioned physical break-in is still a very real problem. Research shows that one in four of all burglaries happen as a result of ‘sneak-in’ thefts, where a burglar enters a house simply because they spy an open door or window.
As this is likely to be a problem during the summer months, when there is at least a vague chance of the weather being warm, police in West Yorkshire are currently gearing up for a major awareness-raising campaign, using leaflets, posters and even beermats to educate the populace to this danger.
Surprisingly, the campaign also includes plans to trial Bluetooth technology as part of the education process. The brainchild of Innovation Leeds, part of Leeds City Council's ICT department, this involves police officers scanning their immediate vicinity (30 metres) for phones and laptops, before sending the somewhat cryptic message '1 in 4 Through An Unlocked Door - Stop The Sneak' out to any devices detected. If the trial proves successful, it will be rolled out across the whole force, and used in other crime prevention campaigns.
Frankly, this is up there with the London Olympic logo in terms of ill-conceived ideas. According to detective inspector Duncan Macnay, “People are more relaxed about security when they are at home. But while they are in the back garden or asleep, their property is particularly vulnerable". This may well be true, but sending Bluetooth messages to people while they’re asleep doesn't strike me as an obvious remedy.
Worse still, in order to access these words of crime prevention wisdom, you have to accept a contact request - from the West Yorkshire Police. This is likely to result either in people casually dismissing the request as a joke, or worse, inducing panic in the unlucky recipient. And in the unlikely case that someone does click accept, what exactly are they supposed to make of a message that reads more like a riddle than a security warning.
As a general user guideline, the official Bluetooth website lists putting your device 'into a non-discoverable state so that you are invisible to other Bluetooth enabled devices'. So, at best, this trial might at least manage to alert a few people that their Bluetooth is switched on, which if nothing else could help prevent the likes of Cabir and CommWarrior from spreading.
I'm sorry for savaging Innovation Leeds' ideas, but the public sector continues to waste money on IT projects that appear poorly conceived, planned, and executed, and in many cases serve no discernable purpose. Trials such as this aren't likely to stem the tide of popular opinion - they're just pointless gimmicks. Doug Sutherland, head of innovation at Innovation Leeds, suggests that, "The crime prevention uses for the (Bluetooth) technology don't stop here". Actually, they don't start here either.
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