Siri has a big mouth and Alexa is always listening. Now, if you have Google Home or Chromecast device, you may be giving away your location…within 33 feet. That’s according to a security researcher with Tripwire. A weakness in how the Internet of Things (IoT) device authenticates may leak your location allowing a hacker or someone who has a beef with you to find you when you’re within the walls of your own home. And all that needs to happen is you click on a link that goes to a malicious website.
The bug, which was earlier reported to Google and ignored because they felt it was “intended behavior,” was re-reported to Google by Brian Krebs, which made them sit up and pay attention. Now, the company will reportedly release a patch for it. When it does, make sure you apply it right away.
While most people likely won’t be worried about this, perhaps they should be. It can be used for a myriad of things such as to sell information to advertisers or political parties. It could also be used to create very targeted phishing attacks, for blackmail, and/or extortion. The researcher, Craig Young, said that it’s possible that malicious actors could threaten to release photos or use other realistic threats to make phishing look authentic.
Just remember that if you are not expecting a link or attachment, don’t click unless you can verify it first. This goes for home and at the office. There is just no reason you can’t take a bit of extra time to make sure you’re not putting your own network or that of your company at risk.
And again, always keep all your devices updated with the latest patches and most certainly be sure to change default passwords on all IoT and internet-connected items you install.
For banks and credit unions
Share this article with your members
Copy a ready-made summary and link for your newsletter, website or social posts.
