In another experiment in a single-room apartment in a building designed to help train firefighters, the scientists explored how IoT devices might not only help fire investigators, but also arsonists. In this scenario, they found the devices-including temperature and motion sensors, smart cameras, smoke detectors, and a voice assistant-helped reveal the precise moment the fire started, the room in which it started, and the timeline of how it spread. In one experiment in a multiroom apartment in a building scheduled for demolition, the researchers examined how IoT gadgets might prove helpful in an arson attack involving spilled gasoline and diesel fuel. One liter of diesel fuel was poured in Bedroom 2, as well as a liter of gasoline in the living room. Scenario 1 represented an arson case with the use of ignitable liquid. “Such devices have ‘eyes and ears,’ and they can provide valuable forensic information.” “IoT devices have become ubiquitous in the form of smart home devices,” says Ragib Hasan, a cybersecurity and digital forensic scientist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who did not take part in this research. They reasoned the gadgets could store data onboard that might survive the fire, or transmit data to the cloud or linked phones before their incineration. Scientists at University of Lausanne in Switzerland wanted to see if IoT devices could serve as digital witnesses to arson. The device’s iOS health app recorded 18 footsteps during a time he claimed to be asleep on the night of the homicide.

For example, in 2021, a jury found a man in Alabama guilty of his wife’s murder based on data from his iPhone. Now scientists demonstrate how Internet of Things (IoT) gadgets can reveal key clues-but also potentially help arsonists start fires in the first place.Ĭriminal investigations are already increasingly exploring how IoT devices might record useful forensic data. Fires are difficult to investigate since they often destroy the evidence of their cause.

First edition firestarter