Smart speakers have been widely celebrated as the first pioneering application of the smart home ecosystem to achieve widespread adoption. But as they enter homes at a staggering rate, new security vulnerabilities come to light. Could smart speakers pose a serious cybersecurity threat – and what could we do to mitigate that?
Could Smart Home Devices Pose Security Risks?
Smart home applications are growing in popularity and voice assistants are imcreasingly embraced by consumers. Yet, smart speakers also come with risks, as user experience shows. Designed to activate when a “wake word” is uttered, smart speakers have often fallen victim to false alarms. In order to be able to recognize their wake word, smart speakers need to have their microphones on at all times – a thought which is disconcerting for many users. This feature has led to smart speakers being dubbed as “always listening”. Unauthorized activation can be triggered by accident or even maliciously, by a third party that tries to access the device. There have been instances where devices have been activated by ads or news presenters on a television set near the device. Once it has “woken up”, the device has the ability to record and analyze everything it hears, which can lead to privacy threats and mishaps. So far, there have been recorded instances where smart speakers ordered a purchase by accident – but it is also conceivable that hackers could use smart speakers to access voice recordings and carry out identity theft.
Source: Amazon Echo via Facebook
How to Protect Against Smart Speaker Vulnerabilities
As the new tech grows both in adoption rates and in terms of a device’s capabilities, we are likely to see much more emphasis placed on security. As with any online account, corporate and private log-in applications can be effectively protected by implementing measures such as two-factor authentication or setting up a web application firewall (WAF). A WAF can help protect web applications both on-premises and in the cloud against OWASP Top 10 threats by filtering incoming requests to detect hacker attacks. However, that is something the service provider rather than the home user is expected to do. Simpler security measures that you can implement starting today include installing an antivirus program to protect your home network or setting up a password to shield your smart device against unauthorized users. For users concerned that their smart speaker might respond to a false alarm and proceed to an unwanted purchase, there is even the option to block or password-protect that option on the device or simply disable one-click orders.
Will Smart Speakers Become a Household Staple?
Ever since Amazon launched its groundbreaking Amazon Echo back in 2014, the industry has experienced tremendous growth. By December 2017, 39 million US adults owned a smart speaker – a figure which grew to 53 million by December 2018. During that same period, the total number of smart speaker devices across US households rose from 67 million in December 2017, to 119 million a year later. According to estimates, over 50% of people who own smart speakers have more than one device in their home. Amazon Alexa still holds the reins, but competitors such as Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, and Cortana by Microsoft are also serious contenders. The market will continue to rise, and it is projected to reach around $19 billion by 2023. This means that the industry will demonstrate a whopping CAGR of roughly 31% from 2018 to 2023.
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Smart speakers are undeniably one of the most important applications of smart homes – and they are the first to break through to mass adoption of that scale. Now, it is important to focus on making them better and more secure.