It was only a matter of time before it happened. A major manufacturer of Wi-Fi-connected "data vampires" has been hacked.
VTech, the Hong Kong-based maker of popular learning toys and gadgets for kids, has inadvertently shown us the downside of storing personal information in the cloud. VTech has sold millions of its tablets, cameras, and other devices--including its InnoTab MAX learning tablet that connects via Wi-Fi to cloud computers. Now the personal data of almost 5 million parents and more than 200,000 children has been compromised.
As the following InnoTab MAX product description on the vtechkids.com website makes clear, this toy is a classic data vampire--pitch the features to the unsuspecting consumer but don't mention all the personal information being sucked into the cloud:
Using a Wi-Fi connection, the web browser lets kids explore online games, videos and websites .... Plus, there's the VTech Kid Connect™ app. In addition to being able to exchange text and voice messages, photos, drawings and fun stickers with smart phones, VTech Kid Connect has been enhanced with new features such as group chat and family bulletin. There's also a new Family Bulletin feature where family members can post messages, photos, greeting cards and more.
Families used the toys' cloud-based communications features to send messages to each other and stay connected. Now millions of photos, private conversations and other personal data from families are drifting around in the Internet cloud.
Want to dismiss this as just an unfortunate incident caused by corporate bozos? I wouldn't. The stupidity demonstrated by VTech is rampant in big business. Sadly, VTech won't be the last toy hacking incident we will hear about. Check out the Guardian article on how easy hacking Mattel's Hello Barbie doll can be.
It's not just toys for your kids under the Christmas tree that put your family privacy at risk. If you are thinking of giving your partner a Nest Cam to monitor your home while you are away, remember that those images of the inside of your home end up in the cloud. An Amazon Echo might make a nice gift if you don't mind having a data vampire sitting on your kitchen counter listening to everything you say. Oh, don't forget that the Samsung big screen TV that would make a perfect family gift is capturing what you say and sending it off to the cloud if you mistakenly enable voice recognition.
Giving holiday gifts is just getting more complicated (and even more dangerous) if you are considering high-tech items. As the VTech incident has shown us, those "benign," Wi-Fi-enabled toys and appliances pitched to consumers with slick marketing by big business have a dark side. If consumers value the privacy inside their homes, they need to think twice before putting one of these clever toys and gadgets in their shopping carts and under the tree.
Protecting your family against an invasion of data vampires isn't difficult if you apply the basic premise of "buyer beware." If the toy or appliance extols the virtues of being Wi-Fi enabled, connected to the Internet (or "cloud") or brags how it "learns", you can bet data it is being sucked from your home to big data servers owned by the folks who made the device. The companies that make these data vampires almost never tell you the truth, so assume the worst. Armed with this understanding, consumers can decide whether the convenience of the appliance or the novelty of the toy is worth the risk to their family's privacy.
It's possible to have a merry and private holiday season. Just boycott the growing list of companies pitching Wi-Fi-enabled data vampires. Your family deserves to have its privacy protected.
Gary Ebersole is co-founder of the Open IoT Foundation. He blogs at Data Vampires Chronicle and HuffPost. Follow @datavampires on Twitter.
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