Digital Assistant Speakers Know More Than Just Their Names

As voice assistants like Google Assistant and Alexa increasingly make their way into internet of things devices, it’s becoming harder to track when audio recordings are sent to the cloud and who might gain access to them.

To spot transgressions, researchers at the University of Darmstadt, North Carolina State University, and the University of Paris Saclay developed LeakyPick, a platform that periodically probes microphone-equipped devices and monitors subsequent network traffic for patterns indicating audio transmission. 

They say LeakyPick identified “dozens” of words that accidentally trigger Amazon Echo speakers. more

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