China is collecting the personal data of Americans utilizing coffee makers they may use in their daily lives.
Commercial consumers buying coffee in hotels are giving their payment data to China, while individual users are exposing their location and usage pattern whenever they take coffee.
Privacy of Coffee Consumers Under Threat
American researcher Christopher Balding released an alarming report about the coffee-makers data breach, which can impact almost every American.
Balding asserted being a “manufacturing hub” of the world, China is installing data-collecting devices in every possible machine.
According to the report, the dangerous coffee makers are made by one of the leading manufacturers of the industry named Kalerm.
These machines collect payment data, as well as highly sensitive information, like the time and location of the coffee consumer.
China may be using #Internet of Things inside smart coffee makers to collect #Datahttps://t.co/xapywfzxHW
— WION (@WIONews) June 15, 2022
This way, the manufacturer is able to find even the names of coffee consumers.
However, Balding stated he would not reveal the source of his information; he wants to learn more about Chinese data policies, which would not be possible otherwise.
The report mentioned collecting data from Chinese coffee consumers is a normal routine for the manufacturer.
However, there are enough possibilities that the same data-collection software is also installed for machines exported to the US and other parts of the world.
China Can Assemble Dossier on Every American Now
However, coffee makers are not the only vulnerable devices that are exposing Americans’ data to the Chinese.
Almost all the internet-connected devices having cameras, microphones, and AI-based voice recognition technology are breaching the personal space of people.
Last August, compromised baby monitors and video doorbells were found to collect the personal information of the users.
Those doorbells employed the ThroughTek Kalay network, which allowed cybercriminals to hack live video and audio of the smart doorbells.
Balding further noted China goes above and beyond in collecting data of the consumers of its products and uses this data later on.
While the collection of data is a normal approach in today’s world, the usage of that data matters the most.
The report indicated the same and established there are serious “risks” associated with Chinese attempts to collect American data through coffee makers.
Chinese clandestine data collection strategies are not hidden anymore.
Last year, a former national security adviser to Donald Trump, Matthew Pottinger, told Congress that China already collected enough data to issue a “dossier” on every single Adult American.
“The data is collected at the point of operation from software embedded in the coffee maker.”
Notably, cybersecurity experts have warned that TikTok users are likely feeding data to the CCP by way of ByteDance, a Beijing-based Internet company.
— 808 Eagle Wings (@808EagleWings) June 16, 2022
Pottinger noted that Chinese ambitions to use the latest digital technologies, especially 5G, are taking the efforts of “Leninist regimes” to a whole new level.
Leninism is a political ideology developed in Russia which believes the state should play an active role in promoting communism.
Apart from Americans, the Chinese are now in the position to assemble dossiers on millions of other people worldwide, Pottinger added.
In order to achieve its goal, Pottinger continued, China first steals data and then uses it to “blackmail, flatter, and humiliate” people around the world.
