Breach, Data Security, Incident Response, TDR

VTech: You acknowledge that PII “may not be secure”

VTech representatives are struggling to defend the new terms and conditions that the electronic toy manufacturer company posted on its corporate website following a massive hack that exposed over 6.3 million accounts.

Vtech has struggled to regain consumer trust following the breach of children's passwords, secret questions, answers, chat logs, and photos. Consumer trust is especially vital to the company, as it is planning to roll out new home monitoring devices as part of the Wireless Monitoring System that the company launched in 2014.

These terms have come under strong criticism after a post by security researcher Troy Hunt, and are unlikely to improve consumer trust. The Chinese company's revised TOCs attempt to shift responsibility onto the users and prevent parents from seeking legal recourse if their personal information is breached.

“You acknowledge and agree that you assume full responsibility for your use of the site and any software or firmware downloaded therefrom. You acknowledge and agree that any information you send or receive during your use of the site may not be secure and may be intercepted, or later acquired by unauthorized parties,” stated the revised terms.

According to BBC, a VTech representative claimed, that “such limitations are commonplace on the web.”

When contacted by SCMagazine.com, a VTech representative declined to comment on the revised terms, but directed this publication to an FAQ, which mentions nothing about the update to its terms and conditions.

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