Your Amazon Alexa Could Actually Be Spying On You

The+Amazon+Alexa+speaker.

Hannah B. '23

The Amazon Alexa speaker.

Recent studies have shown that the Amazon Alexa could actually be tracking everything we are saying. With this information many individuals are now skeptical in using these devices. 

“I fear that the Amazon Alexa could be spying on my, so I fear to keep it on all the time.” says Senior Master Sergeant Vincent Majors. 

 The Amazon Alexa is a well known product where one would just say “Alexa…” then ask a question, or tell it whatever one would like. It can give answers for the weather, what time it is, math problems, play music, and do pretty much anything you want it to. It can even play games such as hide and seek, and tell jokes. 

 Creators of the Amazon Alexa have said that their number one priority is to make sure everything is safe for the customers as well as their personal privacy, but hackers have recently proved to users that they can get access to an Amazon Echo speaker and spy on anyone that is talking to it. More and more hackers have found out about this, which leads to more people trying to get into the system. 

The Amazon Alexa has been out since November of 2014. Consumers have been questioning the fact that the technology should be safer, but in fact it is not. As technology has evolved, so have the hackers of this age. The challenge is for the developers to stay ahead of the hackers. 

Senior Master Sergeant Vincent Majors, the client system superintendent for the 514 Air Mobility Wing Communication Squadron at joint base McGuire Air Force base, New Jersey, talks about the opposing risks. “I don’t think people should worry as much as they are, especially when people are watching out for the hackers, although it isn’t something to just ignore.” 

Hackers have been known for taking people’s credit card information which is something that can do damage to yourself. “This is something that you can’t prevent but you can make an effort by yourself to make sure nothing happens by being careful on what you say around the product” said Major. 

“The Amazon company is an honest company who is trying their best but needs to up their security for us consumers” said Majors.