From the San Francisco Chronicle
Home devices with microphones pose eavesdropping danger
By Wendy Lee
It might sound like a James Bond movie, but it’s happening in our homes: Devices with microphones and cameras are transmitting private images and conversations to the Web, and experts fear smartphones and watches could be used for spying, too....
The universe of objects connected to the Internet, many of them with cameras and microphones, is swelling rapidly. That fact alarms security experts, who note the seeming ease with which attackers took over poorly protected devices like baby monitors and digital video recorders last month. In that case, the devices were used to send errant signals that knocked Twitter and other Internet companies offline. But given control over the devices, hackers could do much more.
“You have a lot of companies that were not previously engaged with these technology areas, that never dealt with digital security before that are now designing devices that need those protections,” said Betsy Cooper, executive director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity. “Those companies might not be as prepared as others.”
