I recently subscribed to Wired and was reading some back issues. I ran across a disturbing article from August: Hackers Stalked Me by Hijacking a Smartwatch for Kids by Andy Greenberg, a Wired reporter.

The article describes how a friendly hacker in Greece was able to track a WIRED reporter walking around Manhattan with a cheap pink child’s smartwatch. The hacker was able to track everywhere the reporter walked around town by seeing the smartwatch from the various WiFi signals that permeate the urban area. This means that somebody can be following a kid everywhere they go with a smartwatch, even if they aren’t wearing it and it’s in a backpack.

If that’s not scary enough, the hacker was able to hack into both the camera and the microphone on the smartwatch and could see and hear everything within range of the watch. The hacker was able to overhear conversations, like one with a coworker of the reporter describing their weekend. The smartwatch gave no indication that the camera or microphone were being used.

The smartwatch in question was a supercheap watch that cost only $30 and was sold by an obscure Chinese company called CJC and was manufactured by YiQingTeng Electronics, in Shenzhen, China. The team that hacked the smartwatch presented their findings at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference. They had identified more than 70 GPS-enabled watches and car accessories that could be hacked in the same way. All of these devices worked on several different platforms in China.

You might ask how this is possible. After all, doesn’t the FCC have to approve all smartwatches and similar devices sold in the U.S.? The answer is yes – the FCC must approve all devices that use Bluetooth, WiFi, cellular, and NFC (intentional radiators) to ensure that radio emissions from the device stay within legal limits and don’t interfere with other electronic equipment. Because smartwatches are worn next to the human body, the FCC also evaluates the devices for the specific absorption rate (SAR) and maximum permissible exposure to ensure safety.

Unfortunately, the FCC doesn’t check for cybersecurity flaws, and if they had to do so, they probably wouldn’t be able to approve any devices. This is particularly so now that AI is poking into the cybersecurity flaws of electronic devices of all kinds. Even if a smartwatch had good cybersecurity systems when it was made, there is no mechanism to update security patches for flaws detected after it was sold. This is unfortunately true for most wireless devices. But even when there are security patches available, a huge number of users don’t install updates, even if they know about them.

What is ironic about this is that people who bought Meta smartglasses are regularly being shunned in public places or even being forbidden to enter. But nobody is worried about smartwatches or the many other new types of wearables like rings, pendants, and similar devices. There is also a whole array of sports and health monitoring devices on the market that can be similarly hacked.

This all makes me wish for WiFi and Bluetooth jamming devices that public places could install to make patrons feel safe. But I’m sure the FCC would say that isn’t allowed.