Hackers Stalked Me by Hijacking a Smartwatch for Kids
Cybersecurity researchers demonstrated that inexpensive children's smartwatches are highly vulnerable to hacking, allowing unauthorized access to GPS location, cameras, and microphones. The vulnerability stems from a shared backend platform used by numerous low-cost manufacturers.
Why it matters
It exposes significant privacy and safety risks in the IoT supply chain, particularly for devices marketed toward children.
“I know,” Stykas wrote back.
In fact, Stykas had been monitoring the reporter’s location via the watch since the moment he left his apartment. The watch’s GPS feature, intended to let a parent track their child, was malfunctioning, but the wearable device was still picking up and transmitting to a faraway server identifiers from every nearby Wi-Fi network, which allowed Stykas to nonetheless pinpoint the reporter’s exact location as he walked down a particular Brooklyn block.
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