Which? found that Furby Connect, i-Que Intelligent Robot, Cloud Pets and Toy-fi Teddy can all be hacked into via wifi or Bluetooth, allowing strangers to send messages to children
PARENTS are being warned about must-have toys which connect to the internet and could allow strangers to talk to their children.
An investigation by consumer group, Which?, found that the Furby Connect, i-Que Intelligent Robot, Toy-fi Teddy and CloudPets could all be accessed via Bluetooth or wifi connections.
Once hackers had connected to the toys they were able to send messages, which would then be heard by children playing with the toy.
In each of the toys the Bluetooth connection had not been secured, meaning hackers didn't need a password, PIN or any authentication to get access.
The gadgets, which connect to the internet via Bluetooth or wifi, are sold at major retailers including Argos, Amazon and Toys R Us.
Which? is calling on retailers to stop selling smart toys with known security problems.
Alex Neill, from Which?, said: “Connected toys are becoming increasingly popular, but as our investigation shows, anyone considering buying one should apply a level of caution.
“Safety and security should be the absolute priority with any toy. If that can't be guaranteed, then the products should not be sold.”
Which? conducted the snapshot research in collaboration with German consumer group Stiftung, it created a video to show how easy it could be for hackers to access the toys.
It follows similar investigations into smart products, such as the Amazon echo and smart toys.
A spokesperson from Vivid Imaginations, which makes the i-Que toy, said they take the security issues "very seriously".
They added: "Whilst some of these reports highlight potential vulnerability in the products, there have been no reports of these products being used in a malicious way.
"While it may be technically possible for a third party (someone other than the intended user) to connect to the toys, it requires certain sequence of events to happen in order to pair a Bluetooth device to the toy, all of which make it difficult for the third party to remotely connect to the toy."
"The connected toys distributed by Vivid, fully comply with essential requirements of the Toy Safety Directive and harmonised European standards and consider these product to be safe and for consumers to use when following the user instruction."
It is reviewing whether a technical update to the firmware would be possible.
A spokesperson for Hasbro, which makes the Furby Connect, said that children's privacy was a "top priority" and that they were designed to comply with children's privacy laws.
They added: "We carefully reviewed the report, and take this very seriously.
"While the researchers at Which? identified ways to manipulate the Furby Connect toy, we believe that doing so would require close proximity to the toy.
"There are a number of very specific conditions that would all need to be satisfied in order to achieve the result described by the researchers at Which?, including re-engineering the toy, creating new firmware, and then updating the firmware, which requires being within Bluetooth range while the toy is in a “woke” state.
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"A tremendous amount of engineering would be required to reverse engineer the product as well as to create new firmware."
While a spokesperson for Spiral Toys, which makes the Toy Fi Teddy, and Cloud Pets declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Argos said: "The safety of the products we sell is extremely important to us.
"We haven’t received any complaints about these products but we are in close contact with the manufacturers, who are already looking into your recommendations."
A spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment about the Furby Connect and Toy-Fi Teddy.
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