PSA: More instances where your Home Voice Assistant can turn on you

Pooh

Just in case you thought it was safe to say "OK, Google", along comes this...
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/10/alexa-and-google-home-abused-to-eavesdrop-and-phish-passwords/ 

If you ever wanted to watch what you say around Google and Alexa, then now's the time to do it.

pwmeek

If you read all the way to the end of the article, the authors say that there is "little or no evidence third-party apps are actively threatening Alexa and Google Home users now" but that it's possible that new ones could be created. I expect that as White Hats find more vulnerabilities and report them, Amazon and Google will find ways to defeat them. It (like all warfare) is an eternal see-saw battle between attack and defense. Frankly, eavesdropping by digital assistants is not very high on my list of worries.

That said, any unsolicited request for a password or other personal information would raise a very large red flag for me.

Pooh

The worrying thing @pwmeek is that the window between 'not now' and 'now' is quickly diminishing... Given how easy it is these days to sneak malware into the Google Play store, for example, it may already be an attack vector bad actors are about to exploit.

kltaylor

Ironically, I just read the article that I posted here.
I mean what the heck folks ...