Smart speakers like Alexa are listening more than you think – here’s what you don’t know

IT is no myth that smart home devices like Amazon’s Alexa spy on conversations in the home.

But they are listening more than most people realise.

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Smart speakers like Alexa often record and save what is being said after hearing the so-called ‘wake’ word, such as it’s name.

This is so it can learn more about its user’s routine and habits, to ultimately become more helpful for its owner.

But Alexa may also misinterpret certain words or phrases as its wake word and begin recording what is said even if it wasn’t supposed to.

This is when smart device users might find bizarre things like connected devices switching on and off or even purchases being made without their knowledge.  

“The convenience of smart devices comes with the cost of our privacy,” experts at cybersecurity firm VPNOverview said.

“There are no other options to a smart speaker that provides this level of convenience, entertainment, and education

“As long as users are careful with the speaker’s placement, how they use it and by ensuring their account is set up correctly, they can prevent possible hacks and sharing of unwanted data.” 

One real myth, however, is that people’s data is collected by the likes of Amazon and other first-party smart device developer’s like Google and Apple.

But it’s not.

Instead, data can be sent to some third-party companies, which can create a security risk, according to experts at VNPOverview.

Some skills and commands a smart speaker understands have been created by third-party developers.  

So when these are used or downloaded, the third-party will recieve the data associated with that skill or action so they can improve it.

“Some of these third-party skills are not thoroughly moderated compared to skills provided by the manufacturer,” experts at the cyber firm warned.

“Therefore this can become a gateway for hackers leading to leaks of information, as well as potential eavesdropping.”

One way to combat this risk it to make sure users only use skills and software that first-party developers have provided.

By design, smart speakers are ‘always on’ awaiting for its command word – which mean’s your Alexa is always listening unless it is turned off.

If users don’t want this – there are ways to stop it, but they’re not without their own problems.

Users have the option to mute the microphone on their device.

However, this completely removes the convenience of having requests granted at the drop of a hat.

Users will then have to manually wake the device, by pressing it and saying the command or question.  

Tech savvy smart speaker owners can also change the wake word.

This will help cut down the amount the speaker misinterpreting conversations for commands and listen in on conversations when it isn’t supposed to.

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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk