On the one hand, that's sad. On the other hand, what a great way for both parents and children to learn about the idiocy that is IoT in the Clown. And oh boy do people need to learn!
It could be worse. Imagine that the children had to hand over private information to use the toy, and for that entire dataset to be leaked because the toymaker knows nothing about security. Oh, that already happened: https://www.bitdefender.com/en-gb/blog/hotforsecurity/vtech-...
Or imagine the toy had cameras and microphones uploading continuously to the Clown, then "hackers" released all of it.
Or an attacker gaining control of a specific device to make kids do stupid/bad/illegal things.
We can teach children not to trust a stranger offline or online. How do you teach them to be on guard about an interactive emotional support robot friend thats a parental gift?
It could be worse. Imagine that the children had to hand over private information to use the toy, and for that entire dataset to be leaked because the toymaker knows nothing about security. Oh, that already happened: https://www.bitdefender.com/en-gb/blog/hotforsecurity/vtech-...
Or imagine the toy had cameras and microphones uploading continuously to the Clown, then "hackers" released all of it.