Is Google Home or Chromecast Leaking Your Location?

Hackers and advertisers potentially have a new way to wait up your location: Google Home and Chromecast devices.

The products contain a privacy vulnerability that can leak your location to inside ten meters, according to Craig Young, a researcher at security business firm Tripwire.

Young noticed the trouble when investigating how Google Home and Chromecast receive remote commands; some tasks are carried out unencrypted over HTTP connections, without whatever form of authentication. This makes it possible to extract the location data from the devices, Young wrote in a Monday blog post.

To demonstrate the threat, Young created a website that can sniff out location data from the Google products if a visitor remains on the page for near a minute. The website does this by identifying the visitor's cyberspace network and proceeds to browse for any connected Google devices.

What makes the vulnerability disturbing is how precise the location data can exist, even without any access to GPS identifiers. In his own testing, Young said the information he pulled accurately pinpointed his house. This is because the information was processed over Google'due south ain geolocation data, which taps into broadband networks and smartphones to link Wi-Fi routers to a physical spot.

Young told PCMag the flaw is perfect for advertisers in search of someone's location. IP address lookups can also offer your whereabouts, but can usually only pinpoint your location within several miles.

"An advertiser could embed code in their mobile apps or websites to recognize when dissimilar sessions originate from the same business firm or workplace and use this to build more than specific profiles for targeted ads," Young said in an email.

Hackers could also excerpt the location data to lend credibility to their extortion schemes. Imagine receiving a faux IRS warning, which includes your physical address. Some victims might exist easily fooled and think the threat is real.

Co-ordinate to security reporter Brian Krebs, Google will patch the vulnerability past mid-July. However, the company's products may not be the only ones afflicted. Other smart home devices, including TVs, contain similar problems that can leak the aforementioned information, Young warned.

Young'southward solution? Identify your smart devices on their ain network. "This ways that if I am surfing the web on my chief network, a rogue website or app would not be able to find or connect to my devices. When using Chromecast, I demand to then either switch networks temporarily or else use the sometimes glitchy 'Guest Mode.'"

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/google-chromecast-ultra/26912/is-google-home-or-chromecast-leaking-your-location

Posted by: coxhusloncom.blogspot.com

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