As a parent of two youngsters I am both shocked and disappointed that this week two of the major toy manufacturers, Mattel and VTech have been pulled up with security breaches in their products. There is a worrying trend with internet enabled children’s toys and security concerns that makes me think we should stop and think before considering purchasing toys of this nature.
We actually own a few different VTech toys and only one connects to their Learning Lodge technology. Now me being me, I didn’t put in real data, as I thought it would be more sensible to put in non security critical data and I am glad I did. VTech have not been in touch with their customers to let them know about the security breach that they had and hidden in their terms and conditions the following caveat:
8. SecurityWe take security seriously and we take precautions to keep your personal information secure. We have put in place appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard the information we collect. However, due to the open communication nature of the Internet, we cannot guarantee that communications between you and us, or information stored on our servers, will be free from unauthorised access by third parties.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL ANY MATTEL PARTIES BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND
Interestingly the BBC have just followed up with this article highlighting issues around “smart” toys.
GirlyGeekdom 