How Tech Giants Like Amazon Can Hold Our Homes (and Cars) Hostage
Our homes seem to grow “smarter” by the day. Gadgets can now dim our lights, scoop cat poop, track when eggs will expire, and even check for wet baby diapers. While these gizmos can certainly make life more convenient, they also entice hackers. That’s because smart devices typically connect to Wi-Fi, which means people can hijack the network and your precious, often intimate data that lives on it.
But a recent incident suggests an entirely new threat that receives far less attention: the companies that make these devices. This past May, a Microsoft engineer named Brandon Jackson claimed he was suddenly locked out of his Amazon account and encountered a “house full of unresponsive devices, a silent Alexa, and a lot of questions.” Jackson assumed that someone had tried to log in to his account multiple times with the wrong password, but he couldn’t find any evidence for this explanation.
After he reached out, Amazon told Jackson that a delivery driver “reported receiving racist remarks” from his smart doorbell—and before the company could investigate this claim, he lost access to his Echo devices controlled via Alexa.