The Russian “Roskachestvo” body for monitoring product quality advised users of smart home speakers to avoid conducting daily conversations near them, in order to preserve privacy and security.

Experts explained that these devices operate in continuous listening mode throughout the day, recording speech and collecting information about users’ interests and habits, which may be exploited to target them with ads related to their preferences or sometimes fraudulent ads.

Sergey Kuzmenko, head of the Digital Experience Center at Ruskachestvo, stressed the importance of choosing smart speakers equipped with a feature to manually turn off the microphone, to reduce the possibility of eavesdropping. He explained that the user can, for example, turn off the microphone during weekdays if he only uses the device on weekends.

Kuzmenko pointed out that well-known manufacturers do not intentionally spy on users, but preventive measures reduce the risk of data leakage if a fraudster is able to hack the device. He also stressed the need for end-to-end data encryption to ensure information protection.

The authority also recommended regularly reviewing the permissions granted to all smart home devices, and using covers to cover laptop cameras when not in use, to enhance the level of security and privacy.

Source: mail.ru