Tech
Hello Barbie is hackable, exposes children’s conversations
A high-tech Barbie is terrible at keeping secrets. The toymaker is finding this out the hard way after a security firm revealed that Hello Barbie, a version of the beloved doll that comes with Wi-Fi and speech recognition technology, is vulnerable to hacking.
Hello Barbie gives children an interactive toy that can “discuss anything,” according to Mattel. The problem is that ToyTalk, the company behind the modern technology in the doll, has vulnerable servers, which means children’s recorded conversations with Hello Barbie could potentially be accessed without permission.
Bluebox, the security firm that revealed the doll’s vulnerabilities, shares that the Hello Barbie app for iOS and Android has a number of flaws, including the use of an authentication credential that can be reused by attackers and useless code that “increases the overall attack surface.”
Read also: Get your kid an interactive Barbie
All this means that hackers could potentially access, listen to and reconstruct recordings of children’s conversations with Hello Barbie.
This revelation came on the heels of a warning from another researcher who said he found a flaw that could allow hackers to discover the home addresses of Hello Barbie owners.
RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...