UK government warns of sex toy hacking risks

The UK government has warned to beware of sex toy hackers.

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Four years ago I reported on how hackers could remotely lock chastity belts, with potentially disastrous results. The UK's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has warned that remotely accessed sex toys can be targeted by hackers and cause physical and mental harm to victims.

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A study commissioned by the UK government's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology details how remote-controlled sex toys, especially those with Bluetooth connectivity, are potentially vulnerable to attack or interception by malicious third parties. The study, originally published in March 2023, was covered again by multiple media outlets on January 11 for unknown reasons. This is reason enough to once again warn users about risks that they may not be aware of. You are exposing yourself and your lover.

The study, titled Examining the risks and psychological harms presented by consumer IoT products, was conducted by Dr. Mark Cote, Dr. William Seymour, Dr. Jennifer Pybus, and Dalia Mariasin. We cover everything from children's toys to fitness trackers and smart light bulbs, but it's the sex toys section that's currently of the greatest interest.

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The researchers warned that sex toys have a variety of vulnerabilities and attack surfaces that could cause physical and psychological harm to unwitting consumers, singling out Bluetooth-connected apps as the most dangerous. These connections are often unencrypted, making them more vulnerable to attacks and/or interception by malicious third parties, they said.

Of course, this is not the only risk. There is also an attack surface for insecure intermediaries associated with remote control functionality, such as third-party application programming interfaces, to consider.

So what are the risks the report says? In the case of psychological harm, it is known to be applicable if the disclosure of sensitive personal data is exploited, but physical harm can also occur if the device overheats or locks it with a ransom required to unlock it.

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My advice for anyone using sex toys is to ask whether you actually need to connect to an app to get the pleasure you want, and whether doing so is worth the risk of hacking, no matter how slight. If remote connectivity is required, further mitigate the risk by updating both the device itself and the smartphone it connects to in terms of software and firmware.

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