7
My kid's smartwatch got hacked last Tuesday and it was a huge wake-up call
Honestly, I got a cheap smartwatch for my 8 year old so I could call him. Last week, a stranger's voice came through it telling him to go outside. I freaked out and pulled the battery. I looked it up and the default password was still '123456'. Now I'm changing every password in the house. Has anyone else had a scary moment with a connected toy?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
elizabeth9009d ago
Wow, that's terrifying. I always figured the security stuff was overblown for simple gadgets. I used to just unbox stuff and use the default settings, thinking who would bother hacking a kid's toy? Your story about the voice telling him to go outside just made my stomach drop. I'm definitely going to check the baby monitor and our old tablet tonight, no joke.
1
robertgreen9d ago
Default passwords are the real problem, not the gadgets themselves. I saw a report last year where over 70% of smart toy hacks used the factory default login. @elizabeth900, changing that one setting on your baby monitor cuts the risk way down. It's less about who would hack it and more about how easy we make it for them.
3
jessicac289d ago
How did you even figure out it was the default password? That's so smart to check. I felt sick just reading your post... I can't imagine how scary that must have been in the moment. It really makes you realize this stuff isn't just some boring tech talk.
-1