Microwaves that can spy are not so far-fetched – Europe faces a war against everyday objects

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The publication by Wikileaks of documents which purport to show that the CIA has been developing its abilities to exploit vulnerabilities in everyday “smart” devices in order to gather information will inevitably increase our anxiety about the internet of things – everyday objects able to communicate with us, apps and each other via the internet. But, more widely, as Europol’s serious and organised crime report for 2017 reveals, highly sophisticated crime syndicates are increasingly using cyber in a way that affects us all. The dark web, a collection of websites operating on an encrypted network hidden from traditional search engines and browsers, is the criminals’ bazaar where, subject to the right introductions, I am reliably informed that I can rent a botnet for a modest sum which I could use to launch a Distributed Denial of Service campaign – that’s a cyberattack – against anyone I felt like. Working with colleagues across the European Commission, we are determined to implement a plan for reducing our vulnerability to cyber threats by increasing our resilience to attacks, reinforcing security by design, stepping up the fight against cybercrime, investing in cyber security – a public-private partnership launched last year is expected to trigger €1.8bn in investment by 2020 – and strengthening international cooperation.