The “magic device” of children’s smart watches has become a sensation among parents in recent years.
Today’s children’s smart watches are equipped with powerful hardware and thoughtful features, enabling real-time location tracking, high-definition dual cameras, facial recognition, video calls, and more. Children find them convenient and fun, while parents can keep track of their children’s whereabouts at all times. However, it is important to note that children’s smart watches also pose privacy risks.
Low-End Children’s Smart Watches = “Walking Peeping Devices”
Currently, many low-end children’s smart watches are selling like hotcakes on major e-commerce platforms. The 3.15 Information Security Laboratory conducted a special test on them.
This particular children’s smart watch has a sales record of over 100,000. The testers purchased one and gave it to a child to wear. They disguised a malicious program’s download QR code as a lottery game and placed it at the child’s doorstep.
Such a lottery game can easily attract children to scan the code and participate. As a result, the malicious program easily infiltrated the child’s smart watch.
Meanwhile, engineers have achieved remote control of this watch.
Every time the child participates in the lottery, the malicious program automatically packages and sends out important information from the watch, such as location, contacts, call logs, etc.
After playing the lottery game, the child goes downstairs to play, while the engineer can still real-time locate and continuously collect the child’s movement trajectory, easily defining the child’s activity range.
The testers could infer from multiple location data collections that the child’s home is actually very close to her school, about two to three hundred meters away, which can be reached in 5 minutes.
After returning home, the child chats with her grandmother. By accessing the microphone in the watch, the engineer, who is in a different location, can hear the conversation clearly.
After dinner, the child is doing crafts at her desk. Every move of the child is also being monitored.
Why would a children’s smart watch, loved by kids and trusted by parents, become a pair of eyes that constantly spy on them?
The testers found that the root cause lies in the fact that its operating system is too outdated.
This watch surprisingly uses an Android 4.4 operating system that has no permission management requirements, which is nearly 10 years old. The latest version has already been updated to Android 12.
As long as an app requests any permissions, the Android 4.4 operating system grants those permissions without any notification or user consent.
On such a low-version children’s watch, various apps can install and access sensitive permissions such as location, contacts, microphone, and camera without user authorization. This means they can easily obtain the child’s location, facial images, recordings, and other private information.
Therefore, when parents choose smart watches for their children, it is best to buy higher-grade, latest versions to minimize the risk of privacy invasion. In addition, when purchasing children’s smart watches, pay attention to the following points:
Things to Consider When Buying Children’s Smart Watches
1. Check product certifications to ensure material safety
In addition to concerns about radiation, the safety of the materials used in electronic products is also very important, especially for products that are in close contact with the skin. Children’s skin is more sensitive, so it is advisable to choose watches made from materials that are less likely to cause allergies and are soft and comfortable, avoiding potential skin irritation or allergies from prolonged wear.
When purchasing, be sure to check if the product has a 3C mark. Products with a 3C mark indicate that they have passed the national 3C certification (China Compulsory Certification), which is a product qualification assessment system implemented by the Chinese government to protect consumer safety and enhance product quality management.
2. Value after-sales service and choose branded products
It is recommended to choose well-known brand products, as they offer better quality assurance. In case of quality issues, there will be places for after-sales repairs and to enjoy warranty services.
3. Don’t be tempted by low prices; buy through legitimate channels
Daily Usage Precautions
In daily use, pay attention to the following situations that can easily cause internal battery short circuits, leading to self-ignition and explosions:
1. Keep away from high-temperature environments and avoid prolonged exposure to sunlight;
2. Avoid bumps and collisions to prevent battery deformation or damage;
3. Do not disassemble or replace the battery yourself;
4. Pay attention to waterproofing during use; even if the product claims to support high-level waterproofing, do not wear it while swimming or bathing.
Although children’s safety has always been a priority for parents, dangers can arise unexpectedly.
It is hoped that parents can enhance their awareness of the quality of children’s products and understand the causes of potential hazards, so as to eliminate dangers from the source.
What do you have to say about children’s smart watches?
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Reprint with source “Capital Education (ID:bjedunews)”.
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Material for this article comes from CCTV Finance, The Paper, Jiangsu Market Supervision, and others.
Editor: A Ray of Sunshine
Proofreader: Happy Self
Reviewer: Fisherman Scholar
