How Mattel’s Hello Barbie could become a target for hackers

At a New York City toy fair in February, Barbie and an equally blonde and long-locked adult handler chatted in front of a captivated audience.

“We are on stage to show all these lovely people how amazing you are,” the handler said.

“Being on stage is exciting, isn’t it?” Barbie responded.

 Yes,” the handler said, her voice rising. “I love it.””That’s cool. I didn’t know that about you. I like to be on stage, too.”

Using an internet connection and speech-recognition technology, Hello Barbie, the latest iteration of Mattel’s 56-year-old franchise, does more than speak at the press of a button: She listens.

If Hello Barbie can convince kids they’re having an actual two-way conversation with a doll, it might be this holiday season’s Tickle Me Elmo.

But the makers of the doll face a much bigger challenge, albeit one they’ve created – protecting children’s safety and privacy when they’ve essentially put a WiFi-enabled computer in their hands.

Hello Barbie is a part of the Internet of Things: a rapidly expanding market including light bulbs, security cameras and refrigerators all connected to the web. These devices make our lives more convenient, but also less secure as they’re often not engineered with potential attackers in mind.

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