Gifts - nice and safe

CEBU, Philippines — When parents – whether biological parents or godparents – think of gifts to give to kids at Christmas, they want something that would bring a big grin on those little faces. Grownups want to surprise the kids with something they know the little ones will love. These days such gifts are easy to guess and easily available.

Growing up in a connected world, children love technology as much as everyone else does, or probably even more. And smart toys are necessarily some of the hottest gift ideas of the season. They are sure to make their recipient kids jump in great delight.

Given its extensive connective capabilities, smart toys are an innovative way to engage and teach children. But these positives are only one side of the technology in toys. There is a negative side that parents need to be concerned about.

New threats have emerged about smart toys. It’s not lead poisoning or choking hazards anymore, although these risks still continue to be a concern. It’s about the risk of being hacked via smart toys.

Just last month, a leading smart toy company was in trouble after a hacker accessed the massive database of user information and exposed weaknesses in the company’s security systems. The company’s program connects its smart toys to a network where kids can send messages, photos, and recordings to parents or friends. The hacker was able to access names, addresses, emails, IP information, download history, gender information, birth dates, pictures, chat information, and much more. 

Such a security breach can be very disturbing to parents. It can expose young children to predators. The information that may be accessed can end up in the wrong hands and put the entire family at risk, as well.

Children could not yet appreciate the risks and would still insist on smart toys for Christmas gifts. Parents are caught in a tight spot – they want to give gifts that will make the kids happy, and yet they know the risks involved in giving smart toys to the kids. The website www.ema-eda.com shares some helpful tips for parents to protect their children from the threat of hackers in order to have a safe and happy holiday season:

1. Use a different address. When ordering toys online, additional features, or add-on products use a separate address from that of where children live (example: work address, grandparents’ or friends’ address, or set up a P.O. Box) to avoid having sensitive information stored in an online database. The more discrete you can be with your personal information the better. 

2. Be wary of parental controls. Although the idea of setting up parental controls is supposed to protect kids, this may also be a good target for hackers. Some of these smart toys store information so parents can monitor what their kids are doing with the connected toys; however, this information is also stored in a database, and anything that is stored on servers has the possibility of being accessed by hackers. 

3. Set up “guest network” on personal Wi-Fi. For peace of mind, it may be worth setting up a guest network on your personal Wi-Fi. There are two pros to this precaution. First, toys connected to this separate network will be isolated from other devices used within the home; therefore, if one is hacked the others are not automatically subject to the hacker. Second, by having kids’ toys connected to a separate network, parents will have control over the connection source and can disconnect them at any time. 

4. Educate kids about risks. It never hurts to talk with the kids and explain to them the risks associated with sharing information online. Explain to your kids that their smart devices are connected to a larger network and, if hacked, their information will be accessed. The more the kids know the more likely they are to take precautions early and often, not just with smart toys but also on the Internet in general. Understanding how something works is the best way to understand its weaknesses.

5. Check device settings. A good rule of practice when gifting a tech toy is to check out the settings before giving it to your child. If you suspect that the network is not secure and you simply do not want to take the risk, it may be possible to disable certain features including the microphone or the camera. This way you do not have to be concerned that while your child is playing with the toy personal information is being shared with others you don’t know. (FREEMAN)