'Voice Squatting' Hack Can Turn Amazon Alexa Into A Silent Spy

Benevolent hackers are trying to expose weaknesses in Amazon Echo and Google Home, hopefully to the benefit of users. There's a new and novel way to snoop on Google Home and Amazon Echo devices, researchers have told Forbes. It's called "voice squatting" and was uncovered by a group of researchers from Indiana University, Bloomington, the University of Virginia and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The hack abuses what're known as "skill markets." Those markets open up third-party services, from banking to cat fact apps, that can be called with certain commands.