Tag Archive for: Baby

Baby formula milk companies ‘exploit’ parents’ fears to boost sales, analysis alleges

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Many baby formula milk companies allegedly exploit parents’ emotions and “manipulate” scientific data to boost sales, according to a major new analysis published in The Lancet.

The analysis, led by Professor Nigel Rollins of the World Health Organization, said urgent clampdowns are needed to address misleading claims made by the industry.

It comes on the heels of the formula crisis in the U.S. last year, which saw parents struggling to find formula due to global supply chain issues exacerbated by a large recall of Abbott baby formula after two infants died.

“Part of what we’re exploring in The Lancet breastfeeding series is that the system of influence that commercial formula companies are engaged in is much, much more pervasive and much more influential than maybe previously thought.” study co-author Dr. Cecília Tomori, a breastfeeding expert and associate professor at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, told ABC News.

Scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports breastfeeding newborns, if possible and desired. Breastfeeding has well-documented health benefits for both the parent and the baby.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, babies who are breastfed are at lower risk of illnesses and diseases including asthma, obesity, type 1 diabetes and sudden infant death syndrome.

PHOTO: Hand spooning baby food.

Hand spooning baby food.

STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images

Babies can also receive antibodies from the mother’s breast milk, which boosts their immune systems and helps protect them from disease.

Meanwhile, mothers who breastfeed lower their risk of breast and ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

The authors say while many new parents breastfeed, many choose not to, and all choices should be supported.

According to the analysis, formula milk companies use exploitative tactics to sell products such as preying on parents’ fears about their children’s health and development.

For example, companies have said it’s important to introduce formula to help settle the behaviors of babies, such as disrupted sleep and persistent crying, implying that breast milk alone is not enough.

“The formula milk industry uses poor science to suggest, with little supporting evidence, that their products are…

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Hacking baby monitors can be child’s play: Here’s how to stay safe

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Make sure that the device that’s supposed to help you keep tabs on your little one isn’t itself a privacy and security risk

We’ve probably all read horror stories online: a parent is woken in the middle of the night by strange noises coming from their child’s bedroom. They open the door, only to find a stranger “talking” to their baby through the monitor. While rare, such cases do happen from time to time.

Smart technology has provided us with numerous ways to keeping our houses safe(r), from smart locks and doorbells to home security cameras. But when gadgets are fitted with computing power and internet connectivity, they also become a target for remote hackers.

Fortunately, a few best practices can help to provide peace of mind that your baby monitor will be doing its job, and not the bidding of a stranger, and doesn’t itself become a security and privacy risk.

How can hackers hijack baby monitors?

Why would anyone want to hijack a baby monitor? Some are just looking to play a prank. Others may have more voyeuristic aims in mind. And some may even be looking to steal personal information overheard on the monitor, or confirming the house is empty so it can be burgled.

Whatever the reason, there are two main ways to hack a baby monitor. They depend on the kind of monitor it is:

Radio frequency monitors require an eavesdropper to be within range of the signal and know the frequency it is using. Both this, and the fact that most leading products of this type use encrypted communications, make these models a safer bet overall, albeit with more limited functionality.

Wi-Fi monitors are more exposed to hacking because they connect to the home router and, often, out to the public internet. The latter support functionality which allows parents to view the video feed via a mobile app, wherever they are. While this could provide peace-of-mind when out and about, it also opens the door to remote hackers, who might be scouring the web looking for unsecured cameras to hijack.

Even devices that don’t offer this functionality could theoretically be hacked if…

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10-Inch Knife Found in Baby Car Seat at Logan Airport – NBC Boston

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Transportation Security Administration officers found a 10-inch (25-centimeter) long butcher knife wedged into the side of a baby’s car seat at a security checkpoint at Boston’s Logan International Airport, officials said.

“We love babies … but not butcher knives!” TSA New England said in a post on its official Twitter account Tuesday.

State police were informed after the knife was found on Monday and it was confiscated.

“Pack your knives properly in your checked bag and you’re good to go,” the TSA tweeted.

No one was arrested, a TSA New England spokesperson said.

After the knife was confiscated, the car seat was rescanned and the woman and her baby were allowed to continue on their flight to Atlanta, he said.

It’s not clear why the passenger needed a knife, he said.

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Has your baby monitor been hacked by cybercrooks?

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High-tech baby monitors could be hacked by cybercrooks, whose aim is to use them as entry points to other devices.

One would think the bed of a family’s most vulnerable member — a baby — would be safe from cybercrooks wanting to steal personal data.

Well, that’s not true.

FortiGuard Labs, which operates a cybersecurity data centre in Burnaby, has found at least one baby monitor that has crawled into cribs.

“In September 2021, we noticed attacks attempting to exploit a remote code execution vulnerability in Motorola’s Halo+ Baby Monitor,” the company said in its Global Threat Landscape Report released in February. “The attacks that followed allowed actors into one of the most intimate parts of people’s homes via full access to the baby monitor’s display device, camera, accompanying app, and data shared between the devices.”

Derek Manky, FortiGuard’s chief security strategist and vice-president of global threat intelligence, said the issue resonates on the privacy protection front.

“It’s a baby monitor today; what’s tomorrow?” he asked.

The Motorola model had a remote access flaw, the reported noted. 

One might argue it’s just a baby monitor and that the baby has nothing to hide.

But Manky said the monitor could be used as a jumping-off point; crooks use it to gain access to other home devices that are connected across the home computer network. The cyber expert pointed to phones, watches, fridges, toys, medical sensors and doorbells being hacked.

With the surge in home-based work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of home devices has also surged, broadening what is known as the “attack surface” that cybercrooks can target, Manky added.

Manky stressed not using default passwords on such devices. Change them, he said.

And make sure companies providing such devices have software upgrades and patches to fix vulnerabilities fraudsters can use to get into your home systems.

One thing people can do is use the segmented zones on routers. Use a variety of zones to isolate your devices, he explained.

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