Without knowing that specific toy: yes. What you are willingly putting into your house is a wireless listening device.

I'm pretty sure my 3 year old would see that as terrifying rather than cute.

@AJHenderson - Possibly mine as well, but they have unicorns and other changeable covers as well. Not quite as creepy.

Not only can these toys be insecure themselves by not correctly blocking unauthorised users from using it as a communication device. If they are connected to your wifi network, they can also provide a gateway to all of your other machines and connections. Eg- if they store your wifi passphrase in plain text (as one wifi kettle is known to have done)

Probably about as secure as IP cameras depending on the user of the device.

somewhat related: iot.stackexchange.com/questions/1074/…

I suggest you read up on the Cloud Pets debacle and their unsecured, cloud based database.

@MonkeyZeus I seriously doubt this device requires an open port on the internet, which would put it in a more similar class to a Nest camera than some random junk IP camera as described in the article.

These toys are not safe at all, from both a security perspective and a privacy perspective.

There's been a report on TV here not long ago (4-6 months) where it was shown a) how trivially hackable these things are, often with zero security and more importantly b) that 8-year olds will without hesitation open the front door and go away with a man they've never seen before if their teddy bear tells them he is a friend. So, judge for yourself.

@BaileyS I didn't mean to imply that the insecurities are an apples-to-apples comparison especially in regard to the technologies involved. I merely meant to point out that the security is either garbage, non-existent, or the user has no clue how to secure it; pick your favorite.

Awful idea. What happened to playing outside in the garden, having friends over for dinner/sleepover or making arts and crafts?

@Armada - We do that with our kids. I'm in IT, but on the programming management side. I am aware of some of the dangers, but this was new to me and with some of the other things I have read I wanted a bit more definitive answer than a media scare story.

Wi-Fi connected toys - the perfect gift for every Russian hacker on your Christmas list!

@MonkeyZeus I agree with your sentiment, this seems like a pretty obscure/no-reputation company. Still, the IP camera thing is such a major problem for the opposite reason... they are self hosted, listening directly on the internet. Each operator of one is an oblivious sysadmin to a service that is a very easy target for drive-by attacks.

I'm surprised these use WiFi and not Bluetooth.