Most of us aren’t going to spend hundreds of dollars on an Apple Watch for our kids, but there are many less-expensive, kid-targeted smartwatches available. Unfortunately, a new report claims that your young one’s tiny screen may also be a huge privacy risk. [More]
internet of things
465K People Need A Pacemaker Security Update To Protect Their Hearts From Hacking
By 8.30.17
If you need more evidence that we are living in an increasingly internet-connected world, look no further than a recent software update aimed at making sure 465,000 people with pacemakers don’t have hearts that are vulnerable to hackers. [More]
Sonos Holds Software Updates Hostage If You Don’t Sign New Privacy Agreement
By 8.23.17
Sonos, the current popular brand of smart speaker that people don’t [yet] talk to, really wants its customers to agree to the company’s new privacy policy; so much so, that failing to acknowledge the new rules can turn your Sonos speakers into very expensive shelf decorations when they eventually “cease to function.” [More]
FTC Awards $25,000 Prize To App Designed To Make Your Stuff’s Security Suck Less
By 7.26.17
Your stuff may be increasingly “smart,” but the security on it almost certainly isn’t. If something of yours connects to the internet, it can be hacked — leaving your private data vulnerable, and potentially sweeping your stuff into an international criminal botnet. Now, the FTC is awarding a cash prize to a developer who’s designed an app to hopefully help you make your stuff more secure. [More]
Could Dish & Amazon Partner To Become Your Next Wireless Provider?
By 7.6.17
With AT&T buying DirecTV, and Comcast now offering wireless service, seems like Dish Network is being left out. But the nation’s number-two satellite provider has reportedly been chatting with Amazon about the possibility of creating a new wireless network. [More]
Walmart Files Patent For Amazon Dash-Like Device
By 5.5.17
In yet another example of Walmart’s effort to increase its online presence and best rival Amazon, the big box retailer has filed a patent for an automatic home ordering subscription system similar to Amazon’s “Dash” buttons. [More]
The Code Running Millions Of Samsung Devices Is Full of Giant, Gaping Security Holes
By 4.5.17
The Internet of Things — the amorphous, rapidly-growing mass of devices that are always on and speaking to the great cloud — has never exactly been known for its great security practices. And according to one researcher, the system Samsung uses in everything from its TVs to its phones is “worst code I’ve ever seen,” containing multiple major vulnerabilities. [More]
Is Your DVR Acting Funny? It Might Be Attacking The Internet
By 3.20.17
It’s pretty obvious when a major internet service provider is under some kind of attack: The service gets bad and slow, error messages pop up all over, and everyone basically knows something is not right. But it’s a lot harder to tell is some other web-connected device you use is acting strange because it’s old, or is broken… or remotely attacking the internet on the other side of the globe. [More]
Court Denies Vizio’s Request To Dismiss Users’ Privacy Lawsuits
By 3.7.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
We learned back in 2015 that while all smart TVs collect data on your viewing habits, Vizio was going above and beyond, collecting more information than most, and telling you even less about it. As you might expect, loads of folks who owned Vizio TVs were deeply unhappy about this, and sued the company. And now, a judge has denied Vizio’s motion to dismiss that suit, meaning it will indeed have to defend itself in court. [More]
Announcing A New Open-Source Privacy Standard For The Internet Of Things
By 3.6.17
At Consumerist, consumer privacy and data security have been growing areas of coverage over the past few years. We regularly write about policies, corporate and government alike, that either threaten or help safeguard your privacy. We cover data breaches big and small, and investigate tips from you, our readers. We offer advice about good practices that can help protect you and your data, and try to give you a heads-up when a company changes something that might affect you. And when your kid’s doll is recording what you say and sending the information to a defense contractor — Consumerist is there.
But we’re excited to announce a new initiative that will allow us to do much, much more. [More]
CloudPets “Smart” Toys Leak More Than 2M Voice Recordings, Other Personal Data
By 2.28.17
CloudPets are not cute little adoptable cumulonimbus and cirrus toys for your kid to play with. Instead, they are traditional dog, cat, and bear stuffed animals that relay voice messages between an adult and a kid through the digital cloud. Which in and of itself is not necessarily a bad idea, even if it’s not your style. What is a bad idea, however, is failing to secure your server, and making more than 2 million of those very personal messages public, for anyone on the internet to grab. [More]
IBM & Visa Team Up To Turn Everything Into A Mobile Payment System
By 2.16.17
Consumers make millions of purchases each year through their phones with systems like Apple Pay, PayPal, Samsung Pay, and other programs. But soon, people might be able to use any number of other connected devices to buy products or pay for services, as IBM and Visa announced a partnership to bring payment systems to a number of “smart” products. [More]
Hackers Use College’s Connected Vending Machines To Attack Network
By 2.14.17
What do you get when you combine Internet of Things devices, an overworked network, and an over abundance of seafood-related domain searches? A university attacked by its own malware-infected connected devices. [More]
Don’t Want Your TV To Report Back Everything You Watch? Here’s How To Turn That Off
By 2.10.17
Vizio got busted early this week for spying on users and sharing their data without permission. But the key there is the “without permission” part, because pretty much all smart TVs are collecting and sharing some kind of data on you. And so many consumers are now asking: Can I make them stop? [More]
Pricey Wearable Baby Monitors May Be Better At Giving Parents Anxiety Than Monitoring Babies
By 1.24.17 — Updated: 1.25.17
Raising a baby can be pretty nerve-wracking, especially for first-time parents. Babies make weird sounds, do bizarre things, and can’t describe when something’s actually wrong. Meanwhile, it’s 2017 and our solution to basically every old problem is: “Have you tried throwing new technology at it?” [More]
If You Have An Original iPhone, It Won’t Work On AT&T Anymore
By 1.19.17
It’s unlikely that anyone other than the most stubborn users are still using the original iPhone or feature phones from the era of 2G networks, but AT&T has announced that it has finally cut these users off. [More]
Samsung “Smart” Camera Is Ridiculously Hackable
By 1.18.17
A security camera in your house, that you can access remotely, might seem like a good idea at first. You can log into it from anywhere, to see what’s going on and if it really was the cat who opened your kitchen cabinets every day last week. But the problem with a thing you can access remotely is that a sufficiently determined bad actor can, too. And sometimes it doesn’t even take much determination to do. [More]
Got An Idea On How To Make ‘Internet Of Things’ More Secure? You Could Win $25,000
By 1.5.17
Internet-connected (“smart”) devices are becoming ubiquitous, but they have this persistent problem: they’re internet-connected. A huge number are extremely vulnerable to being taken over by bad actors, for a whole host of reasons. And so, before your fridge becomes part of the next record-breaking botnet, the Federal Trade Commission wants to give someone cold, hard, cash money for coming up with a way to prevent it. [More]
