Turn off Amazon's Alexa when working from home

Your privacy is at risk. COVID-19 has forced many to work from home. Some are dealing with the anxiety of using technology, video conferencing and remote data sharing. You never considered outsiders hearing your business calls, or a personal one for that matter.

A lot of the business information is confidential, so what is the problem with working from home and getting online using my company’s VPN for security? Well, you didn’t think about the folks you invited into your home every day that bypass VPN. That would be Amazon’s Alexa and other smart devices we have in our home.

Should I be concerned?

Even newer TVs come with the listening assistant turned on by default. What will Alexa or your TV hear from your bed.

So why should you be concerned? In April 2019, Time published a story titled "Thousands of Amazon Workers Listen to Alexa Users' Conversations." Amazon admitted their engineers listened to a small number of recording to improve their customer experience. The issue is that the keyword to wake Alexa can come up in casual conversations, especially if you are on a call for hours. There have been news stories about conversations recorded on Amazon’s server when the user never activated Alexa for recordings. A 2019 Consumer Reports story notes how the smart speakers may sometimes misinterpret the “wake word” and begin listening and recording when they shouldn't.

I don't care who hears what I say so I should be good, right!

The other issue is the weak security of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices being on your network.

Because IoT devices are designed to quickly connect to your Wi-Fi network, they use very basic security protocols. This means hackers can easily hack the network and gain access to turn your device on for listening. There can also get into your computer and steal other information. All because your smart light bulb gave them easy entry.

Surprised

Then take action now to protect yourself. First, turn off the TV voice command when working from home. Second, many smart speakers, Google Hub, Facebook Portal and other devices have a switch to turn them off and on quickly. Last, if you are technical then configure your router to prevent UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) IoT devices from making changes so hackers can’t use them for entry to your home.

If you think this was valuable then share it with your family and friends to help them be safe.

Sourced from an article written by Leah Campbell in April, 2020. Read more here >>