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Alexa is a snitch! Hacker Halted 2019 - Wes Widner
The document discusses the privacy concerns surrounding Amazon's Alexa, highlighting that it constantly listens, records user interactions, and retains audio indefinitely without strong access controls. It also notes that Alexa and similar devices from Google and Apple collect more than just voice data, including environmental and emotional information. The author urges readers to be aware of their audio footprint and consider alternatives to these listening devices.
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Alexa is a snitch! Hacker Halted 2019 - Wes Widner
- 1. Alexa is asnitch! Wes Widner – CrowdStrike
- 2. tl;dr Alexa collectsyour audio www.hackerhalted.com 2 • But you already knew that.. • What you may not know is what that audio contains • ..or how its stored • ..or who it’s shared with • ..or what to do about it!
- 3. Alexa is alwayslistening www.hackerhalted.com 3 • The mute button is designed to be irritating • Alexa is almost the perfect listening device • Alexa is basically an excellent microphone with a computer attached • 2nd gen Alexa’s had a 7 mic array • Newest one comes with 4 far-field microphones • Easily triggered by design • The inverse square law means sound drops by 6db for every doubling of distance • So far-field mics must be extra-sensitive
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- 6. Alexa is alwaysrecording www.hackerhalted.com 6 • Recordings are kept indefinitely • Recordings are kept in a large collection • Recordings are not protected by strong access controls
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- 9. And when acustomer interacts with an Alexa skill, that skill developer may also retain records of the interaction. www.hackerhalted.com 9
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- 11. Kept in alarge repository.. www.hackerhalted.com 11
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- 13. Alexa doesn’t justrecord voice www.hackerhalted.com 13 • New apps and papers reveal that voice is not the only thing that's recorded • Environment, emotions and health are also recorded
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- 26. Alexa is notthe only snitch www.hackerhalted.com 26 • Google and Siri are also designed this way • Google plans to turn some phones into Alexa devices • Baidu and Sonos are catching up • Even without these, listening devices are pretty cheap
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- 30. Snitches get stitches www.hackerhalted.com30 • You knew this was coming.. • Be mindful of the audio you produce • Consider shaping that landscape • Dampen or mask areas like you were a cold war spy • Help out with an open source on-prem voice assistant • Shut your mouth • Know and respect the ones trying to protect you
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- 38. Shout out tothe Mozilla Voice project www.hackerhalted.com 38 https://voice.mozilla. org
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- 40. Conclusion www.hackerhalted.com 40 • Alexais always listening • Amazon is always recording • Alexa doesn’t just record voices • Alexa isn’t the only snitch • Snitches get stitches
- 41. The end –Thanks for coming! Wes Widner Cloud Engineering Manager Crowdstrike (we’re hiring engineers) wes.widner@crowdstrike.com @kai5263499 https://github.com/kai5263499/audio-security-awesome www.hackerhalted.com 41