May 7, 2018

Security researchers say they found a way to make Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant listen in on its users indefinitely — and provide a transcript of everything said in front of the device. Researchers at cybersecurity firm Checkmarx were able to

IT’S IMPORTANT NOT to overstate the security risks of the Amazon Echo and other so-called smart speakers. They’re useful, fun, and generally have well thought-out privacy protections. Then again, putting a mic in your home naturally invites questions over whether it can be used for eavesdropping—which

As a proof of concept, researchers from Israel-based application-security firm Checkmarx wrote a malicious “skill,” or Alexa functions, that managed to turn an Amazon Echo Dot into a full-fledged eavesdropping device that recorded dialogue indefinitely and sent transcriptions of human speech to a third-party

A malicious proof-of-concept Amazon Echo Skill shows how attackers can abuse the Alexa virtual assistant to eavesdrop on consumers with smart devices – and automatically transcribe every word said. Checkmarx researchers told Threatpost that they created a proof-of-concept Alexa Skill

According to Forbes, the discovery was made by a company called Checkmarx, whose tools test the security of soon-to-be released software. The hack exploits Alexa’s in-built function to listen out for follow-up commands from the user – for example, it might ask

Checkmarx experts created a proof-of-concept Amazon Echo Skill for Alexa that instructs the device to eavesdrop on users’ conversations and then sends the transcripts to a website controlled by the attackers.

Checkmarx security researchers developed a proof of concept attack that would allow enable an Amazon Echo to continue recording a user long after a request is made.

Security researchers at the firm Checkmarx said they found a way to create an Alexa skill that would continue listening to users long after they prompted the software, according to Threatpost. The rogue skill could then send a recording and

Researchers from security firm Checkmarx say they have found a way to keep Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa listening in on what is said — and even transcribe it. The researchers created a calculator skill for the device. When the skill