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This is not strictly true. I examined a master's degree thesis last semester where the student proved conclusively that Alexa devices are periodically spamming
by mr_gibbins 4y ago
This is not strictly true. I examined a master's degree thesis last semester where the student proved conclusively that Alexa devices are periodically spamming bursts of data back to Amazon HQ even when not woken. Beyond a heartbeat, too - MBs of data, not KBs.
No clear idea what that data is, though. There's at least a small chance it isn't benign.
- djbusby 4y agoSo, mitmproxy that traffic and see what it is?
- mr_gibbins 4y agoScope of his work didn't go that far, he looked at several devices and Alexa was notably chatty. He was measuring for abnormal data bursts from IoT home devices - included things like smart bulbs etc.
- ahepp 4y agoisn't the point of SSL that you can't do that (assuming the client is verifying certs, etc)?
- jefftk 4y agolink?
- mr_gibbins 4y agoUnpublished. It's still going through board approval. As/when it's put on my institution's open repository I'll post a link. Might be a few weeks though.
- registeredcorn 4y agoInterested to hear more, once it's through! :)
- rightbyte 4y agoBe sure to put as a submit :)