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TECHNOLOGY Monday 8 May 2017

How Burger King revealed the hackability of voice assistants

MAE ANDERSON ties, a woman’s 6-year old what task a voice assistant
AP Technology Writer daughter ordered a doll- is performing. Asking about
NEW YORK (AP) — Burger house and sugar cookies the weather requires less
King pulled a pretty juicy simply by asking Amazon’s security than say, shopping
marketing stunt last month voice assistant Alexa for or accessing a bank ac-
that drew plenty of atten- them. count.
tion — not just to the Whop- Since the devices are so Amazon already has op-
per, but also to the intrinsic new — the Amazon Echo tions for setting up security
vulnerabilities of a new type debuted in 2015, Google codes to shop, make finan-
of voice-activated gadget. Home last year — they’re cial transactions or unlock
The fast food chain’s still having growing pains. and start cars.
15-second television ad And they’re growing in Of course, someone could
targeted Google Home, a popularity; Consumer Intel- always overhear you re-
speaker that can answer ligence Research Partners citing a security phrase. A
questions and control other estimates that Amazon sold better solution, and one
smart appliances. When 3 million Echo devices in the that companies are hard at
an actor in the ad said U.S. in the fourth quarter of ABOVE: In this Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016, file photo, Google Home, work on, would be to iden-
“OK, Google” and asked a 2016, bringing the total to right, sits on display near a Pixel phone following a product tify a person’s voice, much
question about the Whop- more than 8 million. Ama- event, in San Francisco. BELOW: In this March 2, 2016, file photo, the way Google and Face-
per, Google Home obe- zon doesn’t release sales David Limp, Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices, pushes book identify faces today.
down on an Echo Dot in San Francisco.
diently began reading figures. Associated Press Beyond improving security,
the burger’s ingredients in Many experts believe that that technology could help
homes around the coun- deliberate attempts to trig- the device personalize rec-
try — effectively extending ger voice assistants will be ommendations or even ads
the commercial for howev- short-lived. Among other for the individual, not the
er long it took someone to things, brands have to face whole family.
shout “OK, Google, stop!” the consequences of po- Apple already lets users
Google and Wikipedia tentially annoying millions voice-train its Siri digital as-
quickly made fixes to shut of people. sistant so it’s more likely to
it down. Though annoying, “Burger King was doing activate only when it hears
the stunt may have done what the Burger King brand a specific voice. Amazon
some good by highlighting is known to do, stir contro- has a voice training op-
how easy it is to hijack such versy and make sure it gets tion for Alexa. Google
devices. (Just imagine a lots of coverage,” Forrester Home can recognize up to
burglar spying a voice assis- principal analyst James six different voices, though
tant and asking it to unlock McQuivey said. “Very few it won’t prevent unauthor-
all the doors.) It could also brands want to do that.” ized users from activating
speed the development of Of course, spammers and the assistant.
home voice assistants with other bottom-feeding mar- Experts suggest that com-
better security. keters can still try to imple- ads from activating Google instance (of hacking), but panies will eventually add
“It’s a wakeup call,” said ment the technique. But Home. Neither company I don’t think this is going cameras to voice assis-
Earl Perkins, a digital secu- voice assistants already provided details on those to be the next great wave tants. Amazon’s new Echo
rity analyst at the research have a few ways to block techniques. of cybercrime,” said Steve Look has a camera, but
firm Gartner. “It’s a harbin- them. Voice assistants are still Grobman, chief technol- it’s for offering fashion ad-
ger of things to come.” THREATS AND COUNTER- in their “very early days,” ogy officer at the security vice. Combining a facial
TRIGGER WARNING MEASURES Google says; the company company McAfee. scan with voice recogni-
Voice assistants such as Amazon already makes plans to “monitor and learn MORE SECURITY TO COME tion would definitely beef
Google Home, Apple’s Siri sure its TV commercials and as we go.” But before long, the de- up security, although they’ll
and Amazon’s Echo de- those of its partners can’t Hackers might also be a vices are going to need also create new privacy
vices have always been inadvertently trigger the threat. But because voice better security. “When you concerns.
susceptible to accidental speaker. Developers that assistants are so new and move into a world of voice, “Without any security or
hijack. A Google ad during provide Echo with “skills” limited in scope, more es- some of the rules that we’re minimal security, (voice
the Super Bowl that used that let it, for instance, or- tablished connected de- accustomed to, related assistants are) going to be
the phrase “OK, Google” der pizza, are also prohib- vices such as webcams, to security for computers, a fat target,” Perkins said.
reportedly set off people’s ited from creating Alexa routers and printers pose change,” Gartner’s Perkins “There will be all kinds of
devices. And in a January commands that would trig- more of a threat for now. said. innovation associated
story that briefly turned a ger ads. Google says it also “It’s not that we won’t see Exactly how that works with compromising these
family into media celebri- has techniques to block TV some creative or unique could depend on exactly systems.”q