Page 29 of The Smart Killer (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #4)

“Noah. A common risk posed by smart home devices is hackers. Over one week alone, we saw more than 13,000 hacks and scanning attacks. During this time, we also would see hackers trying to log into the smart devices and predict usernames and passwords, sometimes thousands of requests an hour. Now, of course, most of those don’t work, but it’s those that do that concern us.

Imagine someone listening in on your conversations.

Knowing when you are going to be out of the house.

When your child might be alone for the evening.

Or worse, being able to see you through cameras inside and outside your home.

Or even talk to your child through a baby monitor.

That’s just scraping the tip of the iceberg.

As you’ve seen from the deaths of those three families, a hacker can take over the security system, your furnace, your stove, your sprinklers, your thermostat, you name it.

If it’s part of the same system, it can be accessed and controlled.

Now I know Michael Taylor doesn’t want bad PR, just like we don’t.

We aren’t in the business of misery, detective.

We are there to help and hold businesses accountable.

Unfortunately, with the increase in technology available today, there is no oversight for these situations.

People want the government to pass some cybersecurity law that protects their personal data and ensures that products they buy or agree to have in their homes are protected.

However, technology keeps advancing too fast and outpaces the laws.

So, without us, you won’t hear about the issues until after a tragedy.

For example, a mother makes the news when someone begins talking to her child through the baby monitor or speaker devices. ”

“Or spying on families through cameras,” Noah added.

He pointed at him. “Exactly. All I can tell you is that Michael Taylor was opposed to providing us with access.”

“Is this a common response from companies?”

“Some. Most prefer to have us working with them. They want to know if there are any errors or vulnerabilities. They want to discover how to patch them before the user knows so they don’t have to recall their product.

Many things can be fixed with a simple over-the-cloud update, an email of guidance to current customers versus recalling their entire line.

That’s the benefit of a company like ours. ”

Noah nodded.

“Unfortunately, the government can’t monitor everyone, and some companies like Lakeridge don’t like having someone come in and talk to their team who designs the products.

And so you have situations like these tragic deaths.

I imagine Mr. Taylor is working overtime with his PR team to clean up this mess.

” He took a sip of his coffee. “And I expect he was too willing to send you our way?”

“He was.”

Stephen smiled. “That’s because we provided Lakeridge as a case study in the last annual report.

Of course, we didn’t mention their name; otherwise, they might have attempted to sue us for defamation, but he recognized the devices only his company uses.

Had he given us access, many of those issues could have been resolved. ”

“What was his reasoning for not letting you in?”

“That’s the funny part. He said there were no flaws.

His smart homes were on the cutting edge of technology.

It is designed to stop problems from happening.

It is a bit like the way modern vehicles have sensors that can detect if you are going to crash into a vehicle and will brake for you.

Except in the case of Lakeridge, it didn’t stop before it was too late.

But Michael won’t admit that he’s at fault. His ego is too big for that.”

“And yours isn’t?” Noah asked, playing the devil’s advocate.

Stephen smiled from behind his cup. He lowered his cup, and it clinked against the saucer. His expression shifted to contemplative. “What could we hope to gain in the downfall of Lakeridge?”

“Your stock would go up,” Noah replied.

Stephen shook his head. “We are a global company, Noah. We have already achieved most of our goals and made millions finding vulnerabilities for large corporations. Lakeridge is confined to the town of High Peaks. I wouldn’t want to put a figure on it, but they are a speck in the ocean compared to the kind of business we do.

Taking them down would be akin to a rich man stealing a child’s bag of candy. We don’t have time for such nonsense.”

“From a financial perspective. Sure. If money was the reason. However, people go to great lengths in my line of work over the strangest matters. Motivation is as varied as the colors of this world.”

“Well, like I said. I’m here to help. I will get my planner so you can see where I was.

” With that said, he exited the room, leaving Noah alone with his thoughts.

Drumming his fingers against his thigh, Noah glanced over at the table where the stack of magazines was.

He sifted through them, glancing at the headlines.

Fortune, Entrepreneur, INC, Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg.

He noted several articles on Extech, a growing company making waves in the technology world.

Bloomberg Businessweek even had a photo of Stephen on the front.

He flipped through a few, and then his eye caught an ad, and like pieces of a puzzle falling into place — dots began to connect, a conversation he’d had with Savannah flooded back in.

“He doesn’t seem like our guy. It’s too obvious. Additionally, we have no CCTV of him anywhere near those homes.”

“But Porter said Alejandro told you how anyone could control the smart home devices. He didn’t need to get close, Noah,” she explained, her voice patient.

“I’m not saying he needed to be in the vicinity for that, but think about it. You get sent away for 53 months. When you get out, if you were eager to exact revenge, wouldn’t you at least observe them?”

“Maybe he did. People are posting all manner of crap on social media.”

Noah got up, taking the magazine with him. In his haste, he almost collided with Stephen on the way out. “Leaving?”

“Something has come up. Do you mind if I take this?” he asked, holding the magazine up.

Stephen’s eyebrows went up. “By all means.”

Noah went to leave.

“Detective. Aren’t you forgetting something?”

He looked back, and Stephen was holding up some paperwork. “My schedule. The list of numbers, people I spoke to, places I have been over the past few weeks.”

Noah tapped his head and reached for them.

“Right. Thank you. You’ve been very accommodating.

If I have any further questions, I will be in touch,” he said as he hastily exited.

He took out his phone and called the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

When someone answered, he responded, “Maggie Coleman, please.”