Skip to main content

3 privacy controls for your smart-home device

 Smart-home devices can compromise your privacy. Former Amazon executive Robert Frederick even admits to turning Alexa off, due to concerns that the company was listening in. Need to regain some privacy in your home? For Amazon’s Alexa, follow these three tips:

Turn-off the ‘drop-in’ app:

  1. Alexa’s ‘drop-in’ feature allows predetermined contacts to simply start speaking out of a device’s speaker. No need for the device-owner to “answer” a call. Despite the user-friendly functionality, someone who ‘drops-in’ can hear everything happening in your home. Because you may want to discuss private matters out of friends’ earshot, it’s best to turn off your ‘drop-in’ feature unless you specifically want to use it.To turn it off, open the Alexa app, tap ‘devices’, select the intended device, then tap ‘communications’. This will enable you to flip the ‘drop-in’ switch to ‘off’ or to limit it to specific home devices.

Eliminate ‘Hunches’ from your suite of apps:

  1. The ‘Hunches’ tool allows the Alexa device to ask you follow-up questions after a device interaction. The algorithms then use your answers to make helpful suggestions for your home. For example, it may suggest a new way to use timers, or ask you if you’d like to lock your doors before bed.However, the Hunches tool can be a nuisance when you’re in the middle of a professional meeting, as you don’t want to have to ask your smart-home device to please stop speaking.In order to halt functionality for the Hunches tool, open the Alexa app, tap ‘more’ and then ‘settings’, and then ‘Hunches’. Toggle the feature to off mode.

Turn off voice recording for research purposes:  

  1. The latest findings indicate that Amazon still automatically opts Alexa users into its program to use voice recordings for research purposes. Contractors for the company could indeed be listening to you, and in the past, they shared entertaining clips with one another (although the data was anonymized).To disable this feature, open the Alexa app, tap ‘more’ then ‘settings,’ then ‘Alexa privacy’. Afterwards, a new page will pop up, and you can tap ‘Manage Your Alexa Data’. Scroll down, and switch ‘Use of Voice Recordings’ to ‘off’ mode. Confirm the decision, per Amazon’s next popup screen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Site-to-site IPsec VPN with two FortiGates

In this example, you will allow transparent communication between two networks that are located behind different FortiGates at different offices using route-based IPsec VPN. The VPN will be created on both FortiGates by using the VPN Wizard's   Site to Site - FortiGate   template. In this example, one office will be referred to as HQ and the other will be referred to as Branch. 1. Configuring the HQ IPsec VPN On the HQ FortiGate, go to  VPN > IPsec Wizard . Select the  Site to Site  template, and select  FortiGate . In the  Authentication  step, set  IP Address  to the IP of the Branch FortiGate (in the example,  172.20.120.135 ). After you enter the gateway, an available interface will be assigned as the  Outgoing Interface . If you wish to use a different interface, select it from the drop-down menu. Set a secure  Pre-shared Key . In the  Policy & Routing  step, set the  Loca...
Post a Comment
Read more

Be fraud aware - What are phishing, smishing and vishing.

  You may have heard the terms phishing, smishing or vishing before, but what exactly do they mean? At their core, all three terms are a type of financial fraud which tricks unsuspecting victims into giving out sensitive personal information, handing over money or installing malware onto their device. The only difference between each term is the channel via which you can be targeted; phishing refers to scam emails, smishing refers to scam text or WhatsApp messages and vishing takes place over the phone. Phishing The most common phishing method encourages victims to visit a malicious website through a fake email message, which appears to be sent from a legitimate company or source (e.g. from a bank, HMRC, a delivery company or the NHS). For example, you might receive an email which appears to be from an organisation who you’re familiar with, asking you to click on a link. At this point you will be taken to a webpage on which you’re asked to submit sensitive data, such as passwords, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cisco Releases Security Updates for Cisco ASA 5506-X, 5508-X, 5516-X and Firepower// Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvp36425

A vulnerability in the cryptographic driver for Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software (ASA) and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the device to reboot unexpectedly. The vulnerability is due to incomplete input validation of a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) ingress packet header. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted TLS/SSL packet to an interface on the targeted device. An exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to reload, which will result in a denial of service (DoS) condition. Note:  Only traffic directed to the affected system can be used to exploit this vulnerability. This vulnerability affects systems configured in routed and transparent firewall mode and in single or multiple context mode. This vulnerability can be triggered by IPv4 and IPv6 traffic. A valid SSL or TLS session is required to exploit this vulnerability. Cisco has...
Post a Comment
Read more