Add Category
The CloudPets stuffed smart toys at the centre of a massive hacking claim.
MILLIONS of private conversations between parents and their young children have been caught up in the latest security failing of a internet-connected smart toy.
Hackers targeting a range of internet-connected teddy bears and stuffed toys have reportedly exposed passwords, emails and 2 million private recorded messages between parents and their children.
Internet security research Troy Hunt today has posted details of the security break-in and ransom demands for the stolen data from the CloudPets smart toy range.
Mr Hunt, who runs the website Have I Been Pwned that lets people check if they have been caught in a data breach, reports the account details for more than 800,000 users were exposed in the hack.
Mr Hunt found that along with the database of user names and email addresses, the hackers also had access to 2.2 million recorded messages between children speaking to their toys and their parents provided the responses.
MORE: Smart toys spark new spying fears
The CloudPets stuffed smart toys at the centre of a massive hacking claim.Source:Supplied
Mr Hunt says there is evidence that hackers sought to hold the contents to ransom.
Mr Hunt says he tried on four occasions to contact Spiral Toys, the maker of “CloudPets, warning them of the security breach but has not received any comment.
News Corp Australia has also sought comment from Spiral Toys on the hacking claims.
The CloudPets blog has not been updated since 2015 and there is no public notice about the security concerns.
It is not clear how many Australians might be caught up in this latest failure in the internet of Things but the CloudPets range are available here through online stores.
Parents concerned about the security of their CloudPets accounts should, as the least, change their passwords and consider disconnecting the toy from the internet.
The latest hack comes just a few weeks after German authorities warned that the connected doll My Friend Cayla posed security risks.
Australian researchers Professor Lelia Green and Dr Donell Holloway, of Edith Cowan University in Perth, have also called for greater privacy rules to protect children in the wake of security issues with internet-connected toys, such as Hello Barbie and Smart Toy Bear.