Internet-connected smartwatches for children contain security flaws which enable attackers to trace the person’s location, spy on conversations or even communicate with the child user.
The NCC (Norwegian Consumer Council) tested many smartwatches for children and discovered that they are vulnerable to several security flaws and weak safety features – including a feature that could enable an attacker to fake the location of someone – and lacked protection for users.
According to the Director of Digital Policy at the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) :
“It’s very serious when products that claim to make children safer instead put them at risk because of poor security and features that do not work properly”
The Consumer Council tested the Gator 2, Tinitell, Viksfjord and Xplora watches. Because these smartwatches can save and send data without encrypting it, hence, the probability of being exploited is even more concerning. The agency also found that the SOS function in Gator’s smartwatch was poorly implemented while the alarms that were sent by these models after the child left an approved location were unreliable.
The flaws have been reported to the data regulators by the NCC. Customers are recommended not to purchase these watches until the related companies have fixed the security flaws.