If high-tech gadgets are on your holiday shopping list, it is worth taking a moment to think about the particular risks they may bring. Under the wrong circumstances, even an innocuous gift may introduce unexpected vulnerabilities. In this blog series, VERT will be looking at some of the Internet’s best-selling holiday gifts with an eye toward their possible security implications. Some of the risks discussed in this series may be over the top and even comical while others may highlight realistic problems you may not have considered.

Looking at Remote Controls Cars

When I was a kid, there was nothing cooler than a remote control car. It was the gift I wanted every year, and, over the years, I got a couple. This year, I got a couple more. They use different controllers, but they are essentially the same. I would share the models, but they don’t really have model or manufacturer names. If you search for ‘wifi camera remote control car’ on Amazon, you’ll find dozens of these devices mostly shipping from China.

One of the two cars came with a clip-on camera, while the other is built into the chassis. Based on their WIFI names, we’ll call the clip-on camera H-car and the other L-car for the duration of this review. The H-car has a much cooler trigger controller, while the L-car has the simpler stick controller. Both controllers have a place to clip in your cell phone in order to watch the transmitted video.

When the cars arrived, they were in very different states. The H-car was nicely packaged and ready to go. The L-car came in an open box and looked like it had been used previously. The H-car QR code directed me to the app store on both IOS and Android in order to download (Read more...)