My kid's smart toy tried to connect to a weird wifi network at the park

We were at Miller Park last weekend and my son's little robot thing started blinking red, then its app said it found a network called 'Free_Park_WiFi' and asked to join. I had to dig into the toy's settings to stop it from auto-connecting to any open network. Has anyone else had a toy or gadget try to do this and know a good way to lock it down?

3 comments

3 Comments

charles_kelly4320d ago

That "Free_Park_WiFi" thing is a classic trick, and it's wild that a kids toy would just go for it. What gets me is how this turns a simple playdate into a security lesson for parents. You're not just watching for scraped knees anymore, you're basically on guard duty for your home network because a stuffed animal could be the weak link. It makes you wonder what data these toys are even collecting that makes them so eager to find a connection. The real fix might be keeping internet toys at home and bringing simpler stuff to public places.

hunt.quinn20d ago

That's honestly pretty scary to think about. You're just trying to have a nice day out and a toy starts hunting for open networks. It really does feel like you can't let your guard down anywhere now. Charles is right about it turning a playdate into a security job, which is just exhausting. Makes me want to check the settings on every single thing in my house that has a battery.

quinnr4020d ago

Yeah, "security lesson for parents" is right, next they'll want us to run antivirus on the teddy bear.