Parents warned of ‘toy robot’ that ‘malicious actors’ could use to steal data

CYBERSECURITY experts have warned that popular toy robots could be compromised by hackers.

Recently, the cybersecurity company Kaspersky looked into the security of a popular toy robot model.

The toy bot that Kaspersky looked at is typically used for educational purposes.

Kaspersky described it as “a kind of hybrid between a smartphone and tablet and a smart speaker on wheels.”

It features a large touchscreen with a control center, apps and a cartoon-like face.

In addition, there is a built-in microphone, a speaker and a wide-angle camera placed just above the screen.

And because of these features and connection to the internet, the bot can be easily hacked by threat actors.

Malicious actors can make a video call to the robot, hijack the parental account, or even upload modified firmware.

“The first thing we discovered during our research was that malicious actors could make video calls to these types of robots,” Kaspersky said.

It doesn’t stop there. The gullible system lets anyone with a robot ID retrieve a lot of personal information from the server: IP address, country of residence, child’s name, gender, age – along with parental account details the company added.

This data includes the parent’s email address, phone number, and the code that links the parental app to the robot.

These details in turn open the door to a more dangerous attack, Kaspersky noted, such as a complete hijacking of parental accounts.

“A successful attack would result in the parents losing all access to the robot, and restoring it would require contacting technical support,” Kaspersky said.

“Even then, the attacker could have repeated the whole process again, as he only needed the robot ID, which remained unchanged,” she added.

Fortunately, Kaspersky said it notified the toy’s developer and all of these vulnerabilities have since been patched.

Still, the risk remains with other smart devices, and it’s always wise to take precautions.

HOW TO STAY SAFE

Kaspersky has shared some useful tips on how to stay safe below:

• When purchasing a device, make sure you read user feedback and reviews carefully. And, if you can, review any security reports.
• To avoid being spied on or eavesdropped by your smart devices, turn them off when you are not using them and close the camera or put tape over it.
• Finally, you need to protect the devices of all your family members with a reliable security solution.