Serious security flaws discovered in GPS watches for children.

[Questargon]

And another incident of the industry flooding the market with cheapo devices without thinking the security road through fully. This time it's really frightening, because it endangers children. Some parents give their offspring smart, gps trackable devices to monitor their whereabouts. Although there is discussion about whether that's a good or bad thing, it definitely gets much, much worse when these devices are smarter than they need to be and not secure at all.

 

Norwegian security researchers analyzed such GPS-enabled smartwatches, and the results are bad:

A summary: https://www.mnemonic.no/news/2017/watchout/

Article from the researchers: https://www.forbrukerradet.no/side/significant-security-flaws-in-smartwatches-for-children

Both webpages include demonstrational videos of the findings.

(The german website where I stumbled upon this topic first: https://www.golem.de/news/gps-tracking-kindersmartwatches-sind-ein-datenschutz-desaster-1710-130818.html)

 

The Forbrukerradet article says:

Quote

Together with the security firm Mnemonic, the Norwegian Consumer Council tested several smartwatches for children. Our findings are alarming. We discovered significant security flaws, unreliable safety features and a lack of consumer protection.

“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,” says Finn Myrstad, Director of Digital Policy at the Norwegian Consumer Council.

“Importers and retailers must know what they stock and sell. These watches have no place on a shop’s shelf, let alone on a child’s wrist.”

Some of the failings are:

Quote

Serious security flaws
Through a few simple steps, a stranger can take control of the watch and track, eavesdrop on and communicate with the child. They will be able to track the child as it moves or make it look like the child is somewhere it is not. Some of the data is transmitted and stored without encryption.or

False sense of security
The SOS function in the Gator watch, and the whitelisted phone numbers function in the Viksfjord, are particularly poorly implemented. The alerts that are transmitted when the child leaves a permitted area are also unreliable.

Illegal or non-existent terms and conditions
Some of the apps associated with the watches lack terms and conditions. It is also not possible to delete your data or user account. These are clear breaches of both the Norwegian Marketing Control Act and the Personal Data Act.

Better turn off those devices for now until the manufactures provide secure firmware. And hope, that they will do this at all.

 

P.S.: I do not know, whether these devices are also sold in North America, but I assume, that the devices that are available there might have similar flaws. Maybe somebody should check them up as well.

[NowThatsDamp]

Meh. Some rando tracking where their child is on a computer screen all day is only a little bit less creepy than a parent tracking where their child is on a computer screen all day. Really ironic when mom's so paranoid that her own paranoia gets her child stolen.

[mr moose]

I haven't seen these devices in Australia yet.   But before people get on their moral high horse about parenting morals, there is a place for these devices.  As a parent of autistic kids and having extensive experience in education with kids like them, a device like this certainly has it's place in allowing a child to experience a freedom that they otherwise wouldn't get due to the inerrant dangers of their condition.  

 

I hope they get fixed or a better version becomes available as I would seriously consider this device to make camping/day out adventures a lot more relaxing for parents. 

[LAwLz]

33 minutes ago, mr moose said:

I haven't seen these devices in Australia yet.   But before people get on their moral high horse about parenting morals, there is a place for these devices.  As a parent of autistic kids and having extensive experience in education with kids like them, a device like this certainly has it's place in allowing a child to experience a freedom that they otherwise wouldn't get due to the inerrant dangers of their condition.  

 

I hope they get fixed or a better version becomes available as I would seriously consider this device to make camping/day out adventures a lot more relaxing for parents. 

I agree that it could be useful if your child has for example autism. The problem is that people are buying these because they are paranoid and want to monitor their non-autistic children.

Like I said in this thread, they are a waste of money and are counter productive. They just give parents a false sense of security.

[SansVarnic]

2 hours ago, LAwLz said:

I agree that it could be useful if your child has for example autism. The problem is that people are buying these because they are paranoid and want to monitor their non-autistic children.

Like I said in this thread, they are a waste of money and are counter productive. They just give parents a false sense of security.

I remember that thread and I know I stayed out of it for the most part but I'll go ahead and say it now.  Everything @Lawlz said is spot on.

I understand the reasoning behind the idea and Linus' take on it but I do not agree with it being available the way it is. Same as in this thread.

[sof006]

Imagine a pedophile taking advantage of this. This is highly disturbing. If a company makes a product like this the utmost care needs to be taken into account.

[Big Head Tech]

This is why I like the Gizmo Pal from Verizon. In order to add any phone to the watch, you must first take the parents main phone, unlock the phone an app, then add the phone number. Even if you know the serial number of the watch and phone number that doesn't do anything for you and to factory reset it you have to do it from the parent phone.

[Misanthrope]

Praise the Norwegians: always thinking of the children.