Newly Launched Amazon Key Delivery Tech May Leave Your Home Susceptible to Robbery

Everyone hates missing a package. There’s nothing worse than having to go through the Postal Service or UPS to track a package and its whereabouts — especially when it’s something you were waiting for! So, to solve this issue, Amazon recently launched Amazon Key, a service for Amazon Prime customers that allows a delivery person to unlock your door and leave packages inside your home.

How does it work? With the purchase of Amazon Key, you get a special lock and camera, which gives you the ability to watch in real time as a delivery person enters your home to drop off your package. You can also get a video after the fact of the delivery taking place.

Sounds ideal, right? The idea of packages being safely delivered inside your home is great.

Nevertheless, major safety concerns arise when you give strangers the capability to enter a private residence. It didn’t take long for a cybersecurity company to find a loophole in the system, which would potentially allow rogue delivery people full access to your home without your knowledge.

The cybersecurity company, Rhino Security Labs, teamed up with a homeowner to show how Amazon Key isn’t yet infallible. Founder of Rhino Security Labs, Ben Caudill, acted as the delivery person and in exploiting the vulnerability, was able to disable the homeowner’s Wi-Fi and freeze the camera feed. This, in effect, makes the homeowner blind to anything dubious happening within his or her home.

Since then, Amazon has stated that they know about the flaw and have resolved the issue with a software update to notify customers more quickly if their camera goes offline. However, cybersecurity experts say that the vulnerability hasn’t been completely terminated, since Wi-Fi can still be tampered with.

Amazon also suggests customers to shut off their alarms during the four-hour delivery window on the day they expect their package, as Amazon Key won’t work if your home security is activated. That also seems unwise.

Though Amazon asserts the problem has been solved, it’s evident that the system is not entirely secure yet. Stayed tuned for updates on Amazon Key.

[H/t: Today]