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TECHNOLOGY A23
Saturday 12 December 2015
After the VTech hack, some tips on keeping your kids safe
BREE FOWLER ages and genders, the child to convince them where it’s stored could be ing childhood milestones
Hong Kong-based com- that they had kidnapped hacked. of Facebook. Social media
AP Technology Writer pany says. the child and demand a Parents have to weigh the is often the most efficient
The breach didn’t expose ransom. A voice recording importance of the infor- way to share pictures and
NEW YORK (AP) — Parents any credit-card or other would make such a scam mation they’re giving up videos with friends and
financial account infor-
around the world have mation, as payments are
handled by an outside
been understandably company on a separate
website.
shaken by the hacking of Some reports suggested
that photos of children and
a VTech database con- chats between kids and
their parents might also
taining information on the have been accessed, but
VTech Holdings Ltd. says
more than 6 million chil- it’s still investigating and
can’t confirm that yet.
dren who use the compa-
WHY IS THIS A BIG DEAL?
ny’s toys. The worry is that even ba-
sic pieces of information
But what’s a parent to do? could allow nefarious peo-
ple to start building profiles
Internet-connected toys of children, potentially set-
ting them up for identity
such as VTech’s tablets, theft or worse down the
road.
which ask parents to cre- David Dewey, director of
research for Pindrop Secu-
ate personalized profiles rity, says kids have no cred-
it history and their parents
for their children, continue generally aren’t checking
their credit reports, making
to grow in popularity and them easy targets.
“Fraud could go unde-
are expected on many tected for years, till they
try to open what they think
holiday gift lifts this season. is their first credit card ac-
count,” says Dewey, also a
Meanwhile, children have father to a pair of elemen-
tary school-aged girls.
larger digital footprints While the worst case sce-
nario would be for the in-
than ever before, often formation to be used to
kidnap a child, the scenar-
starting at birth with an an- io of a “virtual kidnapping”
is more likely, he says.
nouncement on Facebook In that kind of situation, a
person would call a par-
or other social media. ent and use the informa-
tion they had about their
Here are some answers to
common questions about
VTech’s breach and how A boy looks at VTech’s V.Reader, an interactive e-reader for children ages 3 and older, in New
to protect your kids’ infor- York. Parents around the world have been understandably shaken by the hacking of a VTech
mation online: database containing information on the more than 6 million children who use the company’s
toys. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
WHAT KIND OF INFORMA- much more convincing, against the benefits of hav- family who live far away.
TION DID HACKERS ACCESS Dewey says. Voice is some- ing it collected. But Nunnikhoven, also a fa-
IN THE VTECH BREACH? thing that some VTech Mark Nunnikhoven, vice ther to two young kids, says
The attack compromised devices collect, but it’s president of cloud research it’s important that parents
the profiles of 6.4 million unclear if any got stolen in for the IT security company monitor their privacy set-
kids around the world, the breach. Trend Micro, notes that tings and make sure that
along with the 4.9 million when it comes to toys like what their posting is only
parent accounts that they IS IT SAFE TO ENTER INFOR- VTech’s, there’s nothing going to friends and family.
were connected to. MATION ABOUT MY KIDS stopping you from setting Parents also should think
The parental accounts in- INTO TOYS LIKE THESE? up your child’s account twice before posting pic-
cluded names, email ad- Parents have become very with a different name, fake tures of events like school
dresses, secret questions accustomed to handing picture and other false in- outings and concerts
and answers for password over personal informa- formation. And most of the where there are other chil-
retrieval, numeric Internet tion to companies in order time, you can refuse to dren involved.
Protocol addresses, mail- to get a more personal- provide it all together. And it’s generally a good
ing addresses, download ized experience, whether idea to stay away from
histories and encrypted they’re setting up a kid’s WHAT ABOUT SOCIAL ME- Twitter, which basically
passwords. But information toy or signing up for Net- DIA? broadcasts your informa-
in the children’s accounts flix. But there’s always a It’s not realistic to expect tion to the entire world, he
was restricted to names, chance that the database most parents to stop post- says.q
German automakers want real-time car data for maps app
FRANK JORDANS also to fend off the threat wiper use, for example, will added. back said the backing of
Associated Press from smartphone-based also be transmitted to indi- The automakers will each three major automakers,
BERLIN (AP) — Audi, BMW rivals such as Google and cate weather conditions. hold a 1/3rd stake in the who jointly paid 2.5 billion
and Daimler want to turn Apple. In a nod to consumers’ company, but the aim is euros ($2.7 billion) for the
their cars into real-time “We want HERE to become privacy concerns, all in- to take a hands-off ap- company, would allow it
sensors that will provide the world’s best reality in- formation will be anony- proach to ownership. The to develop a new gen-
data to the HERE map dex,” said Rupert Stadler, mized. “The cars will send companies will encourage eration of high-definition
service they recently pur- the chief executive of data about the current other car manufacturers to maps and fill out the white
chased from Nokia, the Audi. “This index knows driving situation but not cooperate with the service spaces in its service — no-
German automakers said what happens where, in about the driver,” said by also providing data, tably China.
this week. the very moment. It is a BMW’s chief technology a move that would pit “We have a healthy finan-
The aim is to speed up live representation of the officer, Klaus Froehlich. It the auto industry against cial position so we are able
the development of more world.” will be supplemented with Google and Apple, whose to afford the substantial
powerful maps needed Data collected by cars data provided from smart- smartphone apps are in- sums required to succeed
for automated driving and won’t be limited to traffic phones, wearable devices creasingly used by drivers. in building what we envis-
other applications, but information. Windscreen and even traffic lights, he HERE president Sean Fern- age,” he said.q
