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German Parents Told to Destroy Cayla Dolls Over Hacking Fears

posted by Fnord666 on Saturday February 18 2017, @02:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the still-better-than-Chucky dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

An official watchdog in Germany has told parents to destroy a talking doll called Cayla because its smart technology can reveal personal data. The warning was issued by the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur), which oversees telecommunications. Researchers say hackers can use an insecure bluetooth device embedded in the toy to listen and talk to the child playing with it.

[...] The Vivid Toy group, which distributes My Friend Cayla, has previously said that examples of hacking were isolated and carried out by specialists. However, it said the company would take the information on board as it was able to upgrade the app used with the doll. But experts have warned that the problem has not been fixed. The Cayla doll can respond to a user's question by accessing the internet. For example, if a child asks the doll "what is a little horse called?" the doll can reply "it's called a foal".

[...] Manufacturer Genesis Toys has not yet commented on the German warning.

Previously on SoylentNews: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=16/12/08/2050214

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  • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday February 18 2017, @12:52PM

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Saturday February 18 2017, @12:52PM (#468564) Journal

    I wonder what this means for Amazon Echo. I mean, a speaker isn't an object where you'd normally expect a microphone either.

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  • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday February 18 2017, @07:28PM

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Saturday February 18 2017, @07:28PM (#468686) Homepage Journal

    I mean, a speaker isn't an object where you'd normally expect a microphone either.

    I don't think I understand. Phones have both mics and speakers, as do tablets and computers. And a microphone is essentially a speaker being used for input instead of output. There's very little difference between a microphone and a speaker. Try it--plug an ordinary small speaker into your mic jack and test it yourself. It sounds terrible (little to no treble) but it works.

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