Amazon Error Allowed Alexa User To Eavesdrop on Another Home (reuters.com)

A user of Amazon's Alexa voice assistant in Germany got access to more than a thousand recordings from another user because of "a human error" by the company. From a report: The customer had asked to listen back to recordings of his own activities made by Alexa but he was also able to access 1,700 audio files from a stranger when Amazon sent him a link, German trade publication c't reported. "This unfortunate case was the result of a human error and an isolated single case," an Amazon spokesman said on Thursday. The first customer had initially got no reply when he told Amazon about the access to the other recordings, the report said. The files were then deleted from the link provided by Amazon but he had already downloaded them on to his computer, added the report from c't, part of German tech publisher Heise.

Comments

Re:Single case?

[drinkypoo]

Its possible because Amazon and others have convinced people its a great idea to have hot mic; under third party control in their homes.

That's not even what I'm talking about. Why is it even possible for an Amazon employee to make these voice files available to other users through the interfaces available to them? It's understandable why the data is there, but not understandable why someone can make the files available to another user with a click. Even if it's done with a backdoored system, those files ought to be encrypted to the user.