Researchers able to access private data on smartwatches

Over the years owners of smartphones have learned the hard way that they need to keep their devices secured against attempts to get private information off of the devices. The worry is not so much that someone will intercept data on the fly, but that a misplaced device could fall into the wrong hands that have plenty of time to try to break through security to access private data. Researchers from the University of New Haven have started work on examining how secure a new crop of devices – smartwatches – may be and the results are not promising.

In testing that was conducted on an LG G Watch and a Samsung Gear 2 Neo, the researchers found they could access several pieces of personal information. On both devices they found they could access both the user’s email address and contacts. On the LG G Watch, powered by Android Wear, they were also able to access the calendar and pedometer data. For the Samsung Gear 2 Neo, powered by the company’s Tizen operating system, the researchers were also able to grab health information and messages. A contributing factor to their success in pulling this data off the devices was the fact that it was not encrypted.

Even with encryption, there may still be limits to how secure the devices may be. In their testing, the researchers not only poked around the file systems on the devices, but they were also able to utilize the Android-powered smartphones the smartwatches were linked to.

The research being conducted will be presented at a digital forensics conference in August. We can expect more attention to issues of data privacy to be brought up as more devices are made “smart” devices. As the researchers note, mere encryption is only a first step as it needs to be implemented properly. They also note that privacy measures need to take into account how our information is increasingly flowing between devices as we enjoy the benefits of a more connected world.

source: CNET

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