Kid Spies a Threat to the Home Office in Affluent Neighborhoods
The extent of the economic threat to home office workers and the economy in general as a result of summer vacation continues to expand. New studies detail a much more insidious threat posed by children visiting homes where there is a home office. Tech savvy children with their ubiquitous smart phones are being used for competitive intelligence gathering. A surprising number of children are getting early lessons in entrepreneurship from their parents. Parents are capitalizing on the sweet innocence of youth and their trusting neighbors by teaching their children industrial espionage and spy craft.
Children equipped with the latest and greatest smart phones with high resolution cameras built in, 128 gigabyte thumb drives and free off-the-shelf password cracking software are competitive intelligence gathering machines. Trusted as long time friends and neighbors, tech savvy and armed with all the necessary electronics, these kids make perfect spies. Kids taking selfies may actually be photographing the papers on a desk or table. When they ask to use your computer to check on movie times, they may be downloading the contents of your hard drive and leaving a virus behind. Some have suggested that parents have actually had kids plant Wi-Fi cameras in their neighbors’ home offices.
The parents/spy masters are not always in direct competition with the target. Competitive intelligence is a highly marketable commodity. Data collected by an astute kid spy working an affluent neighborhood can easily translate into $100,000 a year plus using internet sites to sell the data.
Experts agree that the danger posed by child spies is easily an equal threat level to cyber attacks from China. The most effective defense is to move out of the home office for the summer months and get temporary office space at a local business center.
Most of your children’s friends can probably be trusted, you just never know which ones are getting early lessons in the dark side of entrepreneurship.
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