![]() ![]() It looks similar to the green light of a drop-in, and it would be easy to mix up the two if I needed to pay attention.īesides listening in to you in real-time, Amazon keeps more of your records - and those of your kids - than all but the most paranoid privacy-concerned people ever dreamed of. For example, I get alert yellow lights on my Echo Dot when I get a weather notification. ![]() Part of the problem is that while Alexa devices will alert you when they’ve been dropped-in on, you may not realize that’s what it’s telling you. The company added that if you have turned drop-in on and want to switch it off, you can turn it off for your entire household by following four simple steps: Tap Communicate in the Alexa app, Tap Contacts, Tap My Communication Settings, and Turn off Drop In. It said, “We understand the devices in question were deregistered in February 2022 and, therefore, would not have shown up on MYCD after that date.” With it, this person could obtain access not just to his Alexa devices, but to his Alexa Auto and the Alexa instance on his Android and Apple phones as well.Īmazon replied that the company has been unable to discern how this could have happened, but it is looking into the issue. The Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablet acted as a trusted software token - a skeleton key to his Amazon records and devices. Morrell felt safe from unauthorized snooping. Had they appeared, he would have deregistered them. Here, you’re supposed to find your Fire tablets, Echo devices, and other Alexa API-enabled devices. Because the adult account on the Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablet was his, this gave the person who had the tablet full access to his Amazon accounts and data.įurther, when he checked on his Amazon account portal, he could not see the two Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablets registered to his account in the Manage Your Content and Devices page (MYCD). This came even after he changed his Amazon account, refactored his two-factor authentication, and used a secure password generator to create a complex password. Someone was listening in to him and looked into his activities and records for approximately two years. When he found himself the target of a sophisticated stalking attack via an Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablet that he didn’t know was still connected to his account, he was shocked. Morell, a former Gartner CTO and Red Hat Lead Security Evangelist, knows security like the back of his hand. In Morrell’s case, he says an Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablet was been used to turn his Echo gadgets in his house into listening devices. Otherwise, they’re full members of your local Alexa networkĪs Morrell explained, “They look innocuous in their rubber bumper case, but people don’t realize that it is just an adult tablet with a kid’s user interface.” That means “you can still get full admin rights,” including the ability to drop-in on all of the other devices registered to you. The other is for adults to set parental controls. ![]() In particular, Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablets have two levels of access. ![]() Amazon intended this to be used as a home intercom system, but it can be abused. Alexa has an optional drop-in feature that enables you to listen in on other Alexa devices on your network. Specifically, an Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablet on your network can be used to pry open the rest of your Alexa-enabled devices, including the Amazon Echo Show in your kitchen, the Ring video doorbell at your front door, the Echo Dot in your bedroom, and the Sonos Connect in your living room. He says Alexa-enabled devices - all half a billion of them - can indeed be used to spy on you in some circumstances. According to research by Richard “Dick” Morrell, white hat security hacker and founder and former CTO/Chairman of security company SmoothWall, they were right to be concerned. Could it happen to you?Įver since Amazon Alexa debuted and Echo devices proliferated in our homes, people have feared that they could listen to their private conversations. The privacy nightmare of people being able to listen in to any of your Alexa-enabled devices is all too real. ![]()
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