The Alexa Guard Plus subscription service recently went live in the US for $5 a month or $49 a year. The basic Guard feature can turn Echo smart speakers and displays into home security devices, while the premium version also gives users hands-free access to emergency services and Alexa the ability to deter intruders from breaking in.
Those Aren’t Real Dogs Barking
Subscribers to Guard Plus will be able to ask Alexa to call a helpline for them to request medical, fire, or police assistance. Alexa also will be able to listen for sounds of activity in the house if its residents are away, and either sound a siren from Echo devices or play the sounds of barking dogs if security cameras detect motion. But some observers suggested there was a possibility that the service could be hacked. “From a privacy perspective, an internet-connected device that can listen to and track every sound in a home is a potential nightmare,” Adam K. Levin, founder and chairman of the cybersecurity company Cyberscout, said in an email interview. “The possibility that a rogue employee or third-party vendor could misuse privileged access to the backend of the service is just one of many concerns.” Account takeover is a possibility with a service like Alexa Guard because many users don’t use robust, unique passwords to protect accounts, Levin said. The FBI recently warned about instances of hackers accessing smart home devices through compromised passwords to send emergency police enforcement to houses, then watching the results through livestreams.
Mistakes Happen
Chris Hauk, consumer privacy champion at Pixel Privacy, warned in an email interview that the Alexa Guard service might not work as intended, positing that some sounds could mistakenly indicate an emergency, if not properly set up. “It could also lead to unwarranted investigations if law enforcement accessed the data and interpreted it in the wrong way,” he added. Levin suggested that the Guard’s privacy trade-offs may be worth it for some users. “Some people may need an always-on microphone in their home looking for intruders, and the privacy trade-off is worth it (for instance, in a second home),” he said.
