Consumer Reports to Begin Evaluating Products, Services for Privacy and Data Security

[McFurd]

Consumer Reports - 3/6/2017 - CR partners with other cyber experts, creating a new open-source industry standard to make connected devices safer. One day in August 2015, Jared Denman got a frightened phone call at work from his wife, who was home with their 2-year-old daughter. A song was playing through the couple’s baby monitor—the Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” The monitor was the kind that connects to the internet so that parents can see and talk to their baby or caregiver when they’re away from home. The device had been taken over by a malicious hacker, and the song’s lyrics were particularly ominous: “Every game you play, every night you stay, I'll be watching you.” Incidents like this may illustrate the need for consumers to be better educated and more vigilant when it comes to digital security. But if a breach could happen to Denman, who is an IT administrator with a sophisticated understanding of computer security practices, it can probably happen to most consumers. Some products, like the Denmans’ baby monitor, are sold by their manufacturers with vulnerabilities that leave them open to attack, such as a setup process that doesn’t require users to change the default username and password. And it’s not just homes with baby monitors that are vulnerable. It’s also homes with routers, security cameras, health-and-fitness apps, and even cars. Read more @ http://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/ ... -security/