Smart speakers, doorbells, fitness trackers, smart TVs...even your insulin pump can now connect to the internet. But what are we really giving away in exchange for the convenience? Anna Maria Mandalari has spent years testing over 210 internet-connected devices in one of the world's largest IoT (Internet of Things) research labs — and the findings are unsettling. From smart speakers secretly recording conversations to TVs taking a snapshot of your screen every 500 milliseconds, this talk reveals what's really happening inside the devices we've invited into our homes.
Drawing on real-world research and investigations, Anna Maria explores the security and privacy risks hiding in everyday connected technology, the technical and social challenges of detecting these threats, and what industry, policymakers and individuals can do to build a safer, more transparent connected world.
🗓️ Filmed at the Royal Institution on Wednesday 6th May 2026
Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/RQVNByLwoY0 ________________________ Anna Maria Mandalari is a Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at UCL, Deputy Director of the UCL Institute of Communications and Connected Systems, and Director of the SafeNetIoT Laboratory. She is an Honorary Research Fellow at Imperial College London, a visiting Professor at Yokohama National University, and Secretary of ETSI TC CYBER EUSR, where she helps coordinate global cybersecurity standardisation efforts. She is also Chair of the Internet of Things Working Group at RIPE. ________________________ Chapters: 00:00 Introduction: what are we trading for convenience? 01:36 Inside the world's largest IoT testing lab 04:30 How smart speakers like Alexa really listen to you 09:15 Smart TVs: the technology that's always watching 14:56 The hidden trackers inside AI browser extensions 21:43 Hacking a smart insulin pump 26:46 Do "IoT security" gadgets actually protect you? 38:04 Why your data matters more than you think 40:04 Building privacy tools that work without the cloud 45:51 New EU law and what needs to happen next __________________________ This talk was filmed in the Faraday Theatre at the Ri by our production team ___________________________ Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe
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