The Internet Of Things and Stuff

Oh Canada…

Leave it to the Canadians to hack into someone’s security system and politely tell them that it’s insecure, then finish it off with an apology. :v: 

Seriously though, it was a nice gesture and better than the alternate universe version where someone hacks into his security camera and starts livestreaming it to Twitch. Stuff like this is the reason why I wouldn’t want to invest in the smart-enabled setups. If it’s connected to the internet there’s a good chance someone will see it.

All of these electronics are made overseas, on the backs of cheap labor with the idea of turning a profit while providing some form of convenience to the consumer. Things like security are not going to be a top priority in most cases, unless you decide to make your own. If I were to buy a security camera or system I would probably make my own setup using a Raspberry Pi kit. It would be cheaper, have no hidden fees and ideally it would be much more secure.

But, if you thought the above story was bad enough…

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A user of Amazon’s (AMZN.O) Alexa voice assistant in Germany got access to more than a thousand recordings from another user because of “a human error” by the company.

The customer had asked to listen back to recordings of his own activities made by Alexa but he was also able to access 1,700 audio files from a stranger when Amazon sent him a link, German trade publication c’t reported.

There’s this funny thing I’ve noticed over the years. A good chunk of the people that I know who happen to own these devices and praise how convenient they are also happen to fear things like the government spying on them (as if they were that important to begin with) and yet they have no problems signing over their privacy to corporations that collect data on their users to sell them more stuff.

We seriously need to have laws put in place that encourage companies to do a better job securing their merchandise.