A report by tech giant Hewlett Packard has concluded that smart watches are littered with security flaws.
The report said that “100 percent of the tested smartwatches contain significant vulnerabilities, including insufficient authentication, lack of encryption and privacy concerns.”
“The results of our research were disappointing, but not surprising. We continue to see deficiencies in the areas of authentication and authorisation along with insecure connections to cloud and mobile interfaces.”
One security expert said manufacturers needed to pay closer attention to customer security.
“Keeping up with other manufacturers to be a forerunner in this technology field may force products to be released without the necessary attention to how secure they actually are,” said Mark James, security specialist at online security firm ESET.
The study tested 10 different wearable watches, although declined to say which ones. Security features put to the test included password protection and data encryption, as well as its cloud storage service. It found all the watches had at least one problem area. There are concerns that, with consumer demand for smartwatches booming, there has been too much focus on getting watches onto the market rather than fully testing its security capabilities.
