A survey on security analysis of Amazon echo devices

• Published in: High-Confidence Computing 2022-12, Vol.2 (4), p.100087, Article 100087
• Main Authors: Pathak, Surendra, Islam, Sheikh Ariful, Jiang, Honglu, Xu, Lei, Tomai, Emmett
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amazon echo; Intelligent virtual assistants; Privacy; Security
• ISSN: 2667-2952; 2667-2952
• DOI: 10.1016/j.hcc.2022.100087

•Research highlight 1: We analyze the diverse security vulnerabilities from hardware-software-system standpoints for Amazon Echo.•Research highlight 2: We summarize the key mitigation techniques against security vulnerabilities of Amazon Echo. Since its launch in 2014, Amazon Echo family of devices has seen a considerable increase in adaptation in consumer homes and offices. With a market worth millions of dollars, Echo is used for diverse tasks such as accessing online information, making phone calls, purchasing items, and controlling the smart home. Echo offers user-friendly voice interaction to automate everyday tasks making it a massive success. Though many people view Amazon Echo as a helpful assistant at home or office, few know its underlying security and privacy implications. In this paper, we present the findings of our research on Amazon Echo’s security and privacy concerns. The findings are divided into different categories by vulnerability or attacks. The proposed mitigation(s) to the vulnerabilities are also presented in the paper. We conclude that though numerous privacy concerns and security vulnerabilities associated with the device are mitigated, many vulnerabilities still need to be addressed.