Google Home, Amazon Echo: The tech threat of smart devices this Christmas

If there's a gadget-lover in your life, chances are they're getting a "smart" device for Christmas.

But would-be tech buyers beware: if that device is a smart speaker or similar internet-connected home device, you may be getting more than your money's worth.

Voice-enabled speakers and other home devices connected to the internet do not pose a threat to privacy by themselves, but the risks — according to Edith Cowan University cyber security expert Paul Haskell-Dowland — are that these devices may be used as portals to personal information.

"We are giving permission for our home recordings to be sent into the cloud, for people that we don't know to be then processing this data," he said.

"[You are] placing your aural recordings into the cloud, into the internet and on servers that are outside of your control, outside of potentially even your country's jurisdiction."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-20/google-homeamazon-tech-devices-threat-to-personal-data/9273550