The Need for Trustworthy AI

If you ask Alexa, Amazons voice assistant AI system, whether Amazon is a monopoly, it responds by saying it doesnt know. It doesnt take much to make it lambaste the other tech giants, but its silent about its own corporate parents misdeeds. When Alexa responds in this way, its obvious that it is...

Hey Alexa, Who Am I Messaging?

The potential for digital-home assistants like Amazon Alexa to infringe on user privacy by making and saving voice recordings of them is already widely known. Now researchers have discovered that the devices also may be able to “hear” and record what people are typing on nearby smartphones, even...

Manipulating Systems Using Remote Lasers

Many systems are vulnerable: Researchers at the time said that they were able to launch inaudible commands by shining lasers -- from as far as 360 feet -- at the microphones on various popular voice assistants, including Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, Facebook Portal, and Google Assistant. … They...

Laser-Based Hacking from Afar Goes Beyond Amazon Alexa

Imagine someone hacking into an Amazon Alexa device using a laser beam and then doing some online shopping using that person account. This is a scenario presented by a group of researchers who are exploring why digital home assistants and other sensing systems that use sound commands to perform...

Black Hat 2018: Voice Authentication is Broken, Researchers Say

LAS VEGAS – We live in a world increasingly dominated by voice-enabled smart digital assistants. More and more we rely on Amazon’s Alexa to tell us if we have any new messages. We ask Google Home smart speakers to remind us of calendar appointments. Some banks even allow users to use their voice ...