Do you know Cayla doll? German regulators seem to have stopped each parent's nightmare after revealing that hackers they could easily turn a doll named “My Friend Cayla” into device espionage.
German regulators banned the doll's ability to connect to the Internet, prompting them parents to disable the interactive game.
“Cameras or microphones emit one signal, and thus can transmit data without detection, which endangers people's privacy," said Jochen Homann, the head of the Federal Network Agency.
The service pointed out that this is especially true of the Cayla doll where children can ask questions, waiting for the doll to answer them, which looks for them in the Internet. There is also the possibility that companies could use such toys to serve ads directly to children, which makes the situation even more dangerous given how vulnerable children are to these influences.
The warning says the doll records everything a child says, but also the people around him.
"The developer has not adequately protected the wireless connection, and the game can be used by anyone in the area to listen in on conversations unnoticed."
Genesis Toys, the doll's manufacturer, says it regularly reviews encryption security measures to protect against unauthorized access. On the other hand, even they admit that no method of transmission data over the Internet, or electronic storage method is not 100% secure.
The manufacturer's privacy notices when using the product indicate that they gather all the information they want, not only to return information to children through Google, Wikipedia and Weather Underground, but also to improve their own services, for internal purposes of the enterprise, such as carrying out some research, for example.
