Most 11 year olds would probably think nothing about playing with a teddy bear. Reuben Paul though, decides to show the world how to weaponise a teddy bear.
Hailed as a “cyber ninja”, the 11 year old American wunderkind stunned security experts in the World Forum in The Hague by hacking into their Bluetooth devices to manipulate a teddy bear to show how interconnected smart toys can be weaponised.
“From airplanes to automobiles, from smart phones to smart homes, anything or any toy can be part of the Internet of Things (IOT),” he said. “From terminators to teddy bears, anything or any toy can be weaponised.”
As a demonstration, he decided to use his cuddly bear as test subject, which connects to the iCloud via WiFi and Bluetooth smart technology to receive and transmit messages.
Plugging in a Raspberry Pi to his laptop, Reuben managed to scan the hall for available Bluetooth devices, and managed to download dozens of numbers including top officials in the conference. Deploying Python, he used one of the numbers to hack said bear, turning on one of the lights and record a message from the audience.
“Most internet-connected things have a blue-tooth functionality … I basically showed how I could connect to it, and send commands to it, by recording audio and playing the light,” he told AFP later. “IOT home appliances, things that can be used in our everyday lives, our cars, lights refrigerators, everything like this that is connected can be used and weaponised to spy on us or harm us.”
These functionalities could lead to private information being compromised and stolen – including passwords, as ways to spy or track a person through hacking the GPS.
Reuben’s IT skills was discovered by his father Mano Paul, who is an IT expert. Apparently the boy corrected his father at a young age of 6. “Using a simple explanation from dad on how one smart phone game worked, Reuben then figured out it was the same kind of algorithm behind the popular video game Angry Birds.” AFP wrote.
Paul said he been “shocked” by the vulnerabilities discovered in kids toys, after Reuben first hacked a toy car, before moving onto more complicated things.
“It means that my kids are playing with timebombs, that over time somebody who is bad or malicious can exploit.”
With the help of his family, Reuben set up his CyberShaolin non-profit organisation, aiming “to inform kids and adults about the dangers of cyber insecurity,” Reuben said, adding he also wants to press home the message that manufacturers, security researchers and the government have to work together.
