Connecting every possible device in our lives to the internet has always represented a security risk. But that risk is far more pronounced when it involves a smartwatch strapped to your child's wrist. Now, even after years of warnings about the security failings of many of those devices, one group of researchers has shown that several remain appallingly easy for hackers to abuse.
In a paper published late last month, researchers at the Münster University of Applied Sciences in Germany detailed their testing of the security of six brands of smartwatches marketed for kids. They're designed to send and receive voice and text messages, and let parents track their child's location from a smartphone app. The researchers found that hackers could abuse those features to track a target child's location using the watch's GPS in five out of the six brands of watch they tested. Several of the watches had even more severe vulnerabilities, allowing hackers to send voice and text messages to children that appear to come from their parents, to intercept communications between parents and children, and even to record audio from a child's surroundings and eavesdrop on them. The Münster researchers shared their findings with the smartwatch companies in April, but say that several of the bugs they disclosed have yet to be fixed.
The Münster study builds on years of similar findings. Several smartwatches security nightmare despite years warnings
