Are fitness trackers leaking personal data?

Many people have fitness trackers. You can have them on your Smartphone, tablets, and smart watches.

These trackers can allow everyone to monitor their fitness levels whilst on the go. However, despite fitness trackers being useful, its been reported that they may contain security weaknesses which allow hackers access to data.

This somewhat takes the shine off these useful devices if users are vulnerable to data leaks!

A study of seven androids found problems

Seven android-powered trackers were tested and showed that there were vulnerabilities similar to those found in previous research from earlier on in the year. This means that many devices are vulnerable to hackers.

Although Apple Watches were given a high security rating, there were some theoretical vulnerabilities.

The devices that were tested varied in their levels of vulnerability, with some allowing hackers to have access to, and tamper with, user’s data.

The report says how many manufacturers are committing the same errors and allowing the same vulnerabilities to exist, according to the report, as “they often don’t pay sufficient attention to the aspect of security”.

Devices most at risk

The devices that were most at risk according to the report were made by Runtastic, Striiv and Xiaomi. Out of ten, they had seven to eight vulnerabilities.

The report found that these devices could be tracked easily and had no authentication or tamper protection. They also found that data traffic can be manipulated and monitored with root certificates, and that the codes of the apps are not sufficient enough to secure data.

It was also discovered that Xiaomi stores its entire data completely unencrypted on the Smartphone!

In the digital age where so much of our personal information is on our smart devices, data security must be taken seriously. Fitness devices are moving away from just the everyday person wanting to monitor their fitness, as we are now starting to see health insurers use this information as well.

Most secure devices

The report found that the most secure devices were the Pebble Time, Microsoft Band 2, and Basis Peak. They only had two to three potential security risks.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3695969/Many-fitness-trackers-leak-personal-data-study.html

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