Burger King pulled a pretty juicy marketing stunt last month that drew plenty of attention \u2014 not just to the Whopper, but also to the intrinsic vulnerabilities of a new type of voice-activated gadget.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The fast food chain\u2019s 15-second television ad targeted Google Home, a speaker that can answer questions and control other smart appliances. When an actor in the ad said \u201cOK, Google\u201d and asked a question about the Whopper, Google Home obediently began reading the burger\u2019s ingredients in homes around the country \u2014 effectively extending the commercial for however long it took someone to shout \u201cOK, Google, stop!\u201d<\/p>\n
Google and Wikipedia quickly made fixes to shut it down. Though annoying, the stunt may have done some good by highlighting how easy it is to hijack such devices. (Just imagine a burglar spying a voice assistant and asking it to unlock all the doors.) It could also speed the development of home voice assistants with better security.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a wakeup call,\u201d said Earl Perkins, a digital security analyst at the research firm Gartner. \u201cIt\u2019s a harbinger of things to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
TRIGGER WARNING<\/p>\n
Voice assistants such as Google Home, Apple\u2019s Siri and Amazon\u2019s Echo devices have always been susceptible to accidental hijack. A Google ad during the Super Bowl that used the phrase \u201cOK, Google\u201d reportedly set off people\u2019s devices. And in a January story that briefly turned a family into media celebrities, a woman\u2019s 6-year old daughter ordered a dollhouse and sugar cookies simply by asking Amazon\u2019s voice assistant Alexa for them.<\/p>\n
Since the devices are so new \u2014 the Amazon Echo debuted in 2015, Google Home last year \u2014 they\u2019re still having growing pains. And they\u2019re growing in popularity; Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimates that Amazon sold 3 million Echo devices in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2016, bringing the total to more than 8 million. Amazon doesn\u2019t release sales figures.<\/p>\n
Many experts believe that deliberate attempts to trigger voice assistants will be short-lived. Among other things, brands have to face the consequences of potentially annoying millions of people.<\/p>\n
\u201cBurger King was doing what the Burger King brand is known to do, stir controversy and make sure it gets lots of coverage,\u201d Forrester principal analyst James McQuivey said. \u201cVery few brands want to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, spammers and other bottom-feeding marketers can still try to implement the technique. But voice assistants already have a few ways to block them.<\/p>\n
THREATS AND COUNTERMEASURES<\/p>\n
Amazon already makes sure its TV commercials and those of its partners can\u2019t inadvertently trigger the speaker. Developers that provide Echo with \u201cskills\u201d that let it, for instance, order pizza, are also prohibited from creating Alexa commands that would trigger ads. Google says it also has techniques to block TV ads from activating Google Home. Neither company provided details on those techniques.<\/p>\n
Voice assistants are still in their \u201cvery early days,\u201d Google says; the company plans to \u201cmonitor and learn as we go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hackers might also be a threat. But because voice assistants are so new and limited in scope, more established connected devices such as webcams, routers and printers pose more of a threat for now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that we won\u2019t see some creative or unique instance (of hacking), but I don\u2019t think this is going to be the next great wave of cybercrime,\u201d said Steve Grobman, chief technology officer at the security company McAfee.<\/p>\n
MORE SECURITY TO COME<\/p>\n
But before long, the devices are going to need better security. \u201cWhen you move into a world of voice, some of the rules that we\u2019re accustomed to, related to security for computers, change,\u201d Gartner\u2019s Perkins said.<\/p>\n
Exactly how that works could depend on exactly what task a voice assistant is performing. Asking about the weather requires less security than say, shopping or accessing a bank account.<\/p>\n
Amazon already has options for setting up security codes to shop, make financial transactions or unlock and start cars.<\/p>\n
Of course, someone could always overhear you reciting a security phrase. A better solution, and one that companies are hard at work on, would be to identify a person\u2019s voice, much the way Google and Facebook identify faces today. Beyond improving security, that technology could help the device personalize recommendations or even ads for the individual, not the whole family.<\/p>\n
Apple already lets users voice-train its Siri digital assistant so it\u2019s more likely to activate only when it hears a specific voice. Amazon has a voice training option for Alexa. Google Home can recognize up to six different voices, though it won\u2019t prevent unauthorized users from activating the assistant.<\/p>\n
Experts suggest that companies will eventually add cameras to voice assistants. Amazon\u2019s new Echo Look has a camera, but it\u2019s for offering fashion advice. Combining a facial scan with voice recognition would definitely beef up security, although they\u2019ll also create new privacy concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout any security or minimal security, (voice assistants are) going to be a fat target,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cThere will be all kinds of innovation associated with compromising these systems.\u201d\u2014AP<\/p>\n
Image: AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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