A Global Cybersecurity Advisor at ESET has warned that Amazon’s plans to enable the Alexa voice assistant to mimic human voices (dead or alive) could be used to launch deep fake audio attacks on some voice authentication security systems. The advice from some security experts is that, if Amazon goes ahead with voice mimicking for Alexa, it may be wise to switch from using voice authenticate e.g., for bank accounts to another verification method such as online banking via a smartphone.
Tag Archives: Alexa
Tech News : Shocking Suggestion From Alexa
A mother took to Twitter to complain that Alexa had suggested to her 10-year-old daughter that she play a game that involves touching the prongs of a live plug with a penny!
Playing
The mother, Kristin Livdahl (of Minnesota, USA), was reported to have been doing physical challenges indoors on Boxing Day with her 10-year-old daughter because of inclement weather outside, when her daughter asked Alexa, via the Amazon Echo, for another challenge.
The Penny Challenge
To her mum Kristin’s horror, as outlined in her Tweet, Alexa’s suggestion, which it had “found on the web”, was something called the “penny challenge” which is reported to have been circulating on TikTok and other social media platforms last year.
According to Kristin Livdahl’s tweet, the suggestion offered by Alexa was: “Here’s something I found on the Web. According to ourcommunitynow.com: The challenge is simple: plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs.”
Thankfully, as Livdahl reported “I was right there and yelled, ‘No, Alexa, no!’ like it was a dog. My daughter says she is too smart to do something like that anyway.”
Extremely Dangerous
As reported by USA Today, comments from a Fire Marshal about a case where two high school students had tried the challenge (reported in The Providence Journal) highlighted how the challenge causes “sparks, electrical system damage, and in some cases fire.”
Metals conduct electricity and, therefore, touching a live metal plug prong with another metal object held in the hand can result in serious physical harm such as burns, electric shock and potentially death.
Amazon Says Sorry
Amazon is reported to have apologised and offered help to Livdahl and stated that it had fixed the problem as soon as it became aware of it. Amazon has also stated that it will continue to advance its systems to prevent any similar responses in the future.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
This is a damaging story for Amazon, and it was incredibly lucky that nobody was hurt. The story highlights how AI and algorithms can’t exercise judgement in the same way that a human can. It also illustrates how the Internet, apps, and the IoT can be dangerous for children and young people and how tech companies need to increase their efforts and their investment to make the digital world safer for young people. Parental oversight and control are also clearly still important elements in making sure that risks are minimised and that there is always a fail-safe in place.
Tech News : Children Called “Alexa” Getting Bullied
It has been reported that children called ‘Alexa’ are being bullied because they share the same name as Amazon’s digital assistant and consequently, some parents are now calling for a digital name change.
Alexa
There are an estimated 4,000 people in the UK who are under the age of 25 and called “Alexa” (a female form of Alex). Amazon reportedly chose the name Alexa for its digital assistant (launched in 2014) because it has a hard consonant with the X, which means that it is a ‘wake word’ that can be recognised with higher precision. Also, the name is reminiscent of the Library of Alexandria, which is also used by Amazon Alexa Internet.
Servant Or Slave?
The BBC, for example, recently reported the stories of different families where younger members named Alexa had experienced bullying because of their name, with one US mum alleging that the name has become synonymous with “servant or slave”, thereby making some abusers feel that they have a licence to treat people of that name in a subservient manner.
One part of the BBC’s report highlights the plight of a girl who was bullied from the age of six over her name, and even claims that adults with the name Alexa also attract ‘comments’.
Not Advertised
One of the criticisms by those families whose children have been the subject of name-based bullying is that Amazon doesn’t appear to advertise the fact that the wake word ‘Alexa’ can be changed. In fact, customers have a choice of wake words, including Echo, Computer, and Amazon.
How To Change The Wake Word
The wake word in an Amazon Echo, for example, can be changed by opening the Alexa app, opening ‘Devices’, selecting ‘All Devices’ and selecting the device concerned, scrolling under ‘General’ and selecting ‘Wake Word’, selecting and alternative wake word from the list, and then selecting OK.
Advice for parents and carers on how to deal with bullying and cyber-bullying can be found on the NSPCC website here https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/bullying-and-cyberbullying/, on the Kids Health website here: https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/bullies.html and on the Bullying UK website here: https://www.bullying.co.uk/advice-for-parents/what-to-do-if-your-child-is-being-bullied/.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
Amazon had to call its digital assistant something and it’s sad and unfortunate that the name is being used by some people as an excuse to bully others. One thing the company could do to help is, perhaps, to make a greater effort to publicise the fact that users have options to change the wake word to something more benign and generic like ‘computer’ or something that at least reinforces the name of an Amazon product such as ‘echo’. Bullying in school or in the workplace can have damaging and long-lasting effects on the victims and can highlight individuals who need to be challenged and educated in order to understand the causes, and to help them and modify their own bullying behaviour for the good of all.
Tech Tip : Using Alexa As An Intercom System
If you have Amazon Echo devices in your home (or office), the ‘Drop In’ feature allows you to use Alexa as an intercom through your Echo devices. Here’s how:
– Open your Alexa app.
– Tap ‘Devices’ (lower-right corner).
– Tap ‘Echo & Alexa’ to display a list of all of your Echo devices and enable ‘Drop In’ on each device.
-Scroll down to ‘Communications’ and select ‘Drop In’ (to select from ‘On’, ‘My Household’, or ‘Off’). ‘On’ allows only permitted contacts to Drop In, ‘My Household’ is so only devices on your account can Drop In. For no Dropping In, choose Off.
To Drop In (use the Echo as an intercom):
– For a specific device: say “Alexa, drop in on Living Room Echo” (or wherever the Echo is). The name of the device can also be used if you know it.
– For a group of devices, if there is more than one on in one area e.g., the living room: say “Alexa, drop in on Living Room.”
– To speak to the whole household/all devices: ask Alexa to “Drop in everywhere.”
– To end the Drop In connection: say “Alexa, end drop in.”