Cybersecurity Archives - Sated Design

Stay safe. Ask the right questions.

Christmas will soon be here and this year it is shaping up to be a Christmas like no other. With another enforced lockdown in the run up to the festive period, a shopping outing to the high street will not be possible. This means that as consumers we are forced to shop online – but without the security of seeing a product before we buy it, we should be on our guard and exercise caution when making an online purchase.

Organisations like Trading Standards have strained resources and sadly this short-sighted approach often leaves gaps for unsafe and counterfeit products to be freely available. We must be clear on this next point – those products are manufactured and distributed by those who have zero regard for the safety of their end users. Therefore, how can you be safer?

Here are our top tips for being savvy when shopping for electronic products online. We encourage you to consider these before you buy, especially when it comes to electronic devices with mains chargers.

1. Do your research
It is important to have some knowledge about the product before you make a purchase. Read up on brands and product models so you can easily spot when a product listing doesn’t appear to be all it seems. Always read listings carefully and watch for typographical errors.

2. Buy from reputable sellers
Well known retail brands may not always be the cheapest but they will have genuine products for sale and these products will be sold with a warranty. If you do buy products from a reseller, make sure you ask them about their supplier quality assurance processes. Reputable sellers should have authentication procedures in place as well as technicians to inspect the quality of the products they are selling before they are listed.

3. Take notice of the price
It is worth running a price comparison between sites – if the product is too cheap, there will be a reason! Check the advertised price against the Recommended Retail Price (the RRP) and question the products validity if the numbers don’t add up.

4. Look out for the regulatory standards
Every electronic product offered for sale by law must display a CE mark, additional granted approvals marks, manufacturer/importer details sufficient to contact them, a country of manufacture, a product type, batch or serial number and the specifics of any ratings such as voltage and class of use. Mains products must come with a correctly fitted and fused mains plug attached.
If this information is not displayed anywhere on the product, then it will not have been manufactured to legal standards.

5. Review the Packaging
Reputable brands and businesses invest in quality packaging so if you receive an item in ill-fitting or very low cost product packaging then it could be a warning sign. Similarly, there should be information enclosed about the safe operation of the product, warranty and the manufacturers contact details.

We can all stay safer if we take a moment to ask why something appears to be such a bargain.

Sharing

Practising ‘safe sex’ in tech

The phrase “practice safe sex” is taking on a whole new meaning in our modern, tech-obsessed world. Security flaws in high-tech interactive app-based sex toy products (known in the industry as teledildonics) are gaining increasing media coverage. Many organisations are campaigning for tighter regulations regarding the development and maintenance of these products. According to one source, just because every gadget can now be connected to the internet, it doesn’t mean they should be. Sex toys like every other electronic device are being pulled into the Internet of Things (IoT) platform but not without complications.

Only last week a data breach within the Cellmate – billed the “world’s first app controlled chastity device”- had consequences for users worldwide. The API that communicates between the app and the lock on physical product was left open without a password, meaning that anyone could take complete control of any user’s device at any given time. This story follows on from other high profile scenarios in 2016 and 2017 where data breaches occurred, allowing extremely sensitive data in to the public domain.

Despite this, there is a clear demand for teledildonics, especially during the coronavirus pandemic where couples are unable to physically be together. App-based sex toys now represent a reasonable portion of the SexTech market but frighteningly, it is a heavily under scrutinised part of the market at present.

With consumers keen to purchase the products, time is of the essence in tackling the issue of cyber security. We’re encouraged to see this issue being addressed by organisations like the Internet of Dongs Project set up to not only establish bridges to the developers of teledildonic devices but also to educate consumers about choosing devices responsibly. However, it takes many voices to make a lot of noise so there is still much work to be done.

With any new product development, undertaking a risk assessment will highlight safety issues you may not have thought of and allows you to demonstrate that you have fulfilled your obligation to sell a safe product.

Testing a product concept during all stages of its development is an important part of the design process too. Prototypes, mock-ups and test rigs, or whatever you wish to call them, enable your design team to evaluate every aspect of a product, including how it is used.

Using feedback derived from tests your design team will create great products which delight the user and make healthy profits for the manufacturing and distributing chain.

Here at Sated Design we can help you with any of the above services and more. If you have an idea for a new Sex Toy and would like a little help making your product a desirable reality, get in touch today – we may just be able to help.

Sharing

The potential of Industry 4.0

Much like SexTech, the manufacturing industry is on the cusp of its latest revolution. Industry 4.0 takes what was started in Industry 3.0 with the adoption of computers and automation and enhances it with networks of smart and autonomous technology that will collect large amounts of data. Through Industry 4.0 it is now becoming possible for these data systems to communicate important information about maintenance, performance and other product insights without any human interaction whatsoever. The consensus from industry experts is that the potential effects of these “conversations” on our manufacturers are huge and will ultimately result in quicker and more efficient, productive operations which will ultimately save them time and money.

The potential of Industry 4.0 is being realised by those organisations who are already adopting these smart technologies. You would not be on your own in assuming that Industry 4.0 is only realised by large corporations but the reality is that smaller enterprises will benefit too. For example, data stored in connected devices like the cloud could allow them access to technology they wouldn’t be able to have on their own.

Moving a few steps back from the point of manufacture, Industry 4.0 has the potential to impact on the entire design for manufacture process. As the Internet of Things (IoT) is realised, valuable data that can be shared on how products are used by the end users (the consumers) will influence how these products are designed and manufactured in the future. This data will be crucial for the early, embryonic stage of product design and New Product Development (NPD). It will be especially relevant to the development of adult toys and pleasure products where this data will be fully accessible through the Internet of Systems (IoS) including apps.

Industry 4.0 is still evolving. For the manufacturing industry the benefits of introducing smart machines into factories are clear. However, on a slightly less positive note, the presence of extensive data will add complexity to Intellectual Property and Design Rights. More concerningly the personal nature of the data recorded from the end users of adult pleasure products will need to be carefully managed to guard against potential data leaks. The laws of how this data will be stored and who it can be shared with will need to be carefully considered and agreed upon before Industry 4.0 becomes too firmly established in product design and manufacturing.

Paradoxically, the data potential of Industry 4.0, if made accessible, could be the catalyst to revolutionising how we operate and share best practices globally. Faced with all this new and informative data relating to performance and efficiency, wouldn’t it be great news for our planet if we were all able to learn from each other and tackle our climate change crisis collectively?

It goes without saying that sharing best practice and knowledge will help to increase efficiency of manufacturing on a global scale and as a result reduce the environmental, welfare and social impacts on our planet.

If you have a great idea for a new pleasure product and would like a little help to guide you through the journey of making it a desirable reality, get in touch today – we may just be able to help.

Sharing

Pulling the Plug

A patent protecting the broad concept of “teledildonics” has recently expired, potentially paving the way for a wave of sex toys that can be controlled over the internet.

Teledildonics, also known as cyberdildonics, is a term to describe sex toys that can be plugged into a device, such as a computer, tablet or smartphone, and link to other sex toys and interactive applications over the internet, giving users the possibility to interact with sexual partners over long distances.

The patent, originally filed in 1998, includes descriptions of systems where stimulation devices are linked via transmitters to computers equipped with video cameras, capable of then connecting to and interacting with other such systems and pre-recorded video across the internet.

Many view this particular patent as having stifled development of this technology for several years, with the company that had owned the rights filing 10 lawsuits alleging infringement between 2015 and 2017, leading them to be labelled a “patent troll” and gaining notoriety in the industry. The expiration of the patent now potentially removes a large barrier to new development in this area.

However, despite cheers and applause from sex toy innovators, expiration of this single patent doesn’t necessarily mean a green light to a free-for-all for new teledildonics products. While on the surface it may look like a golden opportunity, other inventors will no doubt hold patents and intellectual property covering different areas of this technology, so even with one significant obstacle removed the wider legal minefield remains present. You are just a bit less likely to get sued.

As always, it’s important to continue to do your due diligence to ensure that your product doesn’t infringe anyone else’s intellectual property and land you and your business in hot water. Make use of the services of a patent attorney to help you discover the potential pitfalls and barriers to your product development early on in the process to avoid costly legal action and redesigns later on. It is important that you have a good understanding of the intellectual property landscape of your industry.

We as your product designers can then help you to come up with solutions that circumvent the rights held by your competitors and put valuable IP into your own hands.

Sharing

Cybersecurity and the Internet of Things

How would you feel if details about your personal life and most intimate activities were being collected without you knowing about it? Well the BBC reported last week on a legal case brought against Canadian firm Standard Innovation, manufacturers of the We-Vibe range of sex toys, who were accused of tracking data generated by thousands of their customers using We-Vibe products.
An app called We-Connect used with the We-Vibe vibrator relayed data on things like temperature, settings and usage back to the company. Feeling that their privacy had been violated, customers of Standard Innovation filed a class-action lawsuit against them in September 2016, resulting in Standard Innovation agreeing to compensate US customers and updating its privacy notice and app security.

The BBC report also detailed how the flaw with the app came to light, reporting on a pair of hackers who had demonstrated at a US hacking convention how the data could be sent from the device to the company. They also showed how malicious third parties could not only intercept data from the device, but more worryingly could possibly take control of the vibrator itself, in their words, committing “potentially sexual assault”.

The We-Vibe is an example of the ever-growing ‘Internet of Things – physical products and devices embedded with electronic components enabling them to connect to the internet. While the Internet of Things has already been around for a few years now, teething trouble like Standard Innovation’s story show that it remains very much in its infancy and there is still a lot work needed to bring it to maturity.

Reports such as this one from The Guardian also highlight the growing risk of criminals or terrorists hijacking internet-enabled devices to launch cyber-attacks, by exploiting deficiencies in, or lack of, in-built malware protection. One common type of attack is called a ‘distributed denial-of-service’ (DDoS) attack and involves a flood of data requests being sent to a website from a network of compromised devices, essentially overwhelming it and bringing it down. With an influx of new connected devices now coming online, the potential for such attacks is expected to significantly increase.

There are now several tasks ahead for manufacturers as a whole. One is to take heed of Standard Innovation’s cautionary tale and recognise that while the Internet of Things is a brave new world of technological wonder and commercial possibility, dangers and pitfalls exist that can have dire consequences, not only for unwary businesses but for the wider global community. The second is to determine exactly what these devices should be doing and agree a standard or best practise. Until such standards are in place Sated Design would urge all manufacturers to include cyber security as part of their product risk assessment reviews.

Sharing