The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a notice yesterday warning parents of the dangers posed by smart toys.
The document warns that gaming related to microphones, GPS, WI-FI, or Bluetooth connectivity can give criminals access to special information about children and their families. This can lead to identity theft or worse:
The possession of such information can lead to opportunities for child identity fraud. In addition, the misuse of sensitive data such as GPS location information, visual identifiers of images or videos, may be used to obtain the child's confidence and can expose them to exploitation risks.
There are serious concerns about the security of these games, everything is linked to the Internet is vulnerable to penetration and seizure. The FBI encourages parents to educate themselves:
Security guarantees for these games can be overlooked to market them and make them easy to use. Consumers should conduct online research on these products for any known issues identified by security researchers or in consumer reports.
The FBI also suggests that parents conduct research to determine weather there are any security risks reported about these products. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) document also guides consumers to ensure that their devices have the latest security software and the latest security updates. Perhaps more importantly, parents should be sure that they are watching children's activities while using these smart toys.
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