The Weekly breach Breakdown Podcast by ITRC - S4E14 - Alexa Ring Ring Ring

Show Transcript

Welcome to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s (ITRC) Weekly Breach Breakdown for June 2, 2023. Thanks to Sentilink for their support of the podcast and the ITRC. Each week, we look at the most recent events and trends related to data security and privacy. This week, we recorded our podcast at the largest gathering of identity professionals in the U.S. – the Identiverse Conference in Las Vegas, where the focus is on how you prove a person is who they claim to be. We also look at an Amazon settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over their products Alexa and Ring.

ITRC Presents Information on Privacy, Ethics, & Public Policy in Black Communities

The ITRC team presented information on our ongoing research project on the impacts of identity crimes in black communities that we expect to publish in September. If you look at the agenda and stroll through the exhibit hall, where companies are showcasing their latest solutions, you see three key themes:

1. Passwords are on the way out. However, there’s a lot of work to be done before passkeys become the preferred method of safely logging into an online account
2. Artificial Intelligence will help and hurt efforts to prove a person is who they claim to be.
3. Many companies are working to improve biometric and multifactor authentication for use inside and outside companies on all sorts of devices. ITRC Chief Operating Officer James E. Lee’s favorite vendor was a company that sells a ring that you wear that logs you into your devices and accounts just by tapping it.

Key Takeaway from Identiverse

One thing is certain – there is no silver bullet that will meet all of our identity verification needs. It will take a variety of solutions that will need to work in concert with other technologies and processes in a way that both protects and respects individuals. That’s a tall order. However, it can be done, and the folks at Identiverse are the ones who will make that happen.

FTC & Amazon Settlement Reached on Products FTC Claim Violated User Privacy

The other big privacy and security news this week is not from Sin City. Instead, it is from the Nation’s Capital where the FTC reached an agreement with Amazon over two products that the FTC claimed violated users’ privacy and failed to offer adequate cybersecurity protections.

As a result of the FTC and Amazon settlement, the tech company will pay the FTC nearly $31 million for violations linked to the Ring home security system and the Alexa smart speaker products. Approximately $5.8 million of the penalties are the result of video recordings from Ring cameras being available for viewing by Amazon employees and contractors, as well as security flaws with the devices. The remaining $25 million in penalties are linked to Alexa recording children’s voices and not deleting them when requested in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, also known as COPPA.

Along with the monetary penalties, Amazon has agreed to regular audits to ensure compliance for 20 years. The agreements are subject to approval by a federal court.

ITRC Breach Alert for Business Coming Soon

The ITRC continues a beta test of a new service for businesses, Breach Alert for Business, that want to ensure they receive a notification when a data breach at a vendor or partner is entered into the ITRC’s data compromise database. For more information, fill out our interest form here and click “notified business alerts”.

Contact the ITRC

If you want to know more about how to protect your business or personal information, or if you think you have been the victim of an identity crime, you can speak with an expert ITRC advisor on the phone, chat live on the web, or exchange emails during our normal business hours (Monday-Friday, 6 a.m.-5 p.m. PST). Just visit www.idtheftcenter.org to get started.

Thanks again to Sentilink for their support of the ITRC and this podcast. Be sure to check out our sister podcast, the Fraudian Slip, for the latest in all things compromise, crime, and fraud that impact people and businesses. We will return next week with another edition of the Weekly Breach Breakdown.