Name – Mohit Choraria

Roll No: EPGP-13C-050

Case2: Alexa: A Pandora’s Box of risks

Assignment
1. Which of the risks posed by Alexa are the greatest threat to Amazon and Alexa users?
Security Risks:
 A large amount of consumer data is being channelled from various sources, as well as an ecosystem of Alexa-enabled tools and
services. Alexa's risks directly endanger the privacy and security of user data.
 Alexa posed the greatest risk of user data leakage, misinterpretation, or sharing with third parties. Recently, it was discovered
that Echo data was being shared with a Ukrainian company, raising privacy concerns.
Privacy risks:
 The fact that all of the data has been stored by a single market entity is a major source of concern. In the event of a cyber-hack,
this creates a single point of failure (similar to what happened in case of i-cloud).
 The more these devices know about your data and demographics, the more likely a breach of privacy will occur. Furthermore,
Alexa is still not designed to separate actionable data from non-actionable data, which can jeopardise customer privacy
significantly.
 Other Risks:
 Voice detection above the levels of human hearing is a big threat because voice enabled devices are all present around us. A
command to execute some actions can easily be sent to Alexa and it may execute them without the consent of its users.
 Data custodianship and its proper use by Amazon and the misuse by any employee can be a huge threat.3.If the Amazon users
come to know that Alexa has been manipulating their buying preferences, the trust that users have put in can easily turn into
bad PR for the product forcing it out of the market.
2. What could and should Amazon should do to ensure the security of its devices and its customers’ data? How much responsibility should
the company accept when security breaches occur?

 Amazon should work on developing a more robust NLP to detect unknown voices and children's voices so that Alexa owners are
notified whenever such events occur.
 Alexa's information is more sensitive than any other. To protect itself from breaches and leaks, Amazon Web Services (AWS) should
separate the servers used for Alexa from its other operations.
 Amazon should implement a shared responsibility model in which they educate users about potential threats and how to avoid them
and place a significant amount of onus on the users to act responsibly.
 Amazon should only accept responsibility for breaches that occur on their premises. If a command is prompted from the user's end, it is
the user's responsibility to protect the environment in which Alexa is placed.

3. Some parents and educators are concerned that easy access to Alexa’s AI might harm children’s development. Should Amazon take
action to address this concern?
 Yes, Amazon should take this concern seriously for the following reasons:
 Studies show that children aged 3 to 7 are extremely vulnerable and tend to mimic what their elders do. If they see their elders giving
Alexa commands, they may want to do the same and end up doing something disastrous.
 Also, children have a proclivity to talk and ask questions; if they develop the habit of asking Alexa questions, it may be an easy way out
for them because Alexa will provide information almost instantly without challenging the child.
 Child development takes place when children learn to do things on their own and are not always assisted in a few areas. Alexa's instant
gratification and boredom relief can be harmful to children. This may impair the child's ability to debate and argue.
 Alexa may reinforce negative behaviour and language by failing to recognise it and responding normally.
 Children may also mimic Alexa as she speaks, which may impair their speech abilities and language development. They may end up
acting more robotically. All of the above concerns are serious, and Amazon should take them into account in order to address them
effectively.

4. How can Amazon improve the accuracy of Alexa responses?

 Alexa assists us in teaching machines to understand and pronounce human languages. Alexa technology accomplishes this despite the
nearly unavoidable difficulties presented by human languages, such as infinite word combinations, vast range, confusion, grammatical
and structural difficulty, context-based issues, accents, dialects, and so on.
 Improving query response accuracy is critical to improving user experience among consumers, as more than half value a voice
assistant's ability to understand their questions above all else.
 Teaching Alexa devices to recognise unknown voices can aid in the elimination of unnecessary command prompts.
 Amazon must train Alexa in a variety of dialects and accents so that she can become acquainted with new customers from all over the
world.
 Increasing the number of daily transcriptions to include a diverse range of people who are not limited to a single region, community, or
gender will significantly improve accuracy.

5. How can Amazon improve the monetization of Alexa?

 Amazon can begin by broadening its business scope by integrating cloud computing power and company ERP programmes to provide
data in a more efficient manner. This could be a profitable new revenue stream.
 Amazon can work on its own Alexa-enabled ERP or CRM software to increase its market penetration in the corporate sector. They
would also gain access to various information about how corporations operate, which they could use to provide efficiency feedback.
 Amazon can create a work ecosystem centred on Alexa that can be used to perform simple tasks such as printing, sending emails,
performing security checks, and so on.
 To improve customer retention and engagement, Alexa for voice shopping can be more responsive and use historical data to provide
the best available options at the best price.
  Alexa for voice can use psychographics and demographics to provide the best options when shopping online.
 Alexa can integrate smart shelves to provide good deals and offers to customers through automatic suggestions.
 It can also use organic coding platforms to create voice-based codes, which is an efficient way to expand its revenue opportunities.

6. What risk management framework/ risk response protocol that Amazon could use for the crises related to Alexa?

Risk Identification
Actions Needed:
 Recognizing the current threats 
 Better server implementation 
 Identification of privacy risks, as well as data and security encrypted communication training mechanisms.
Implementation Factors:
 Using improved servers and training techniques to overcome obstacles.
Risk Measurement and Assessment
Actions Needed:
 Evaluation of risk by external teams in compliance with national and international regulations.
Implementation Factors:
 Before taking dramatic action, add security measures such as phone confirmation or digital confirmation.
Risk Mitigation
Action Needed:
 Drafting of security norms and documents stating clear onus about data and privacy.
Implementation Factors:
 Creating and communicating risk factors clearly to various stakeholders.
Risk Reporting and Monitoring
Action Needed:
 Generating frequent quality reports to find bugs or security loopholes.
Implementation Factors:
 Having an emergency response team that overlooks the social and legal aspects of various decisions by Alexa.

Risk Governance
Action Needed:
 Adding more and more security protocols, so that Risk governance becomes more adaptable and easy to implement.
Implementation Factors:
 Having a strict adherence to laws in case of sensitive issues such as financial data, personal data, etc.