BY ALEXIS HANCOCK: For Complete Post, Click Here…
Last year, several parents at EFF enrolled kids into daycare and were instantly told to download an application for managing their children’s care. Daycare and preschool applications frequently include notifications of feedings, diaper changes, pictures, activities, and which guardian picked-up/dropped-off the child—potentially useful features for overcoming separation anxiety of newly enrolled children and their anxious parents. Working at a privacy-oriented organization as we do, we asked questions: Do we have to use these? Are they secure? The answer to the former, unfortunately, was “yes,” partly so that the schools could abide by health guidelines to avoid unnecessary in-person contact. But troublingly, the answer to the second was a resounding “no.”
As is the case with so many of these services, there are a few apps that are more popular than others. While we started with the one we were being asked to use, this prompted us to look closer at the entire industry.
“The (Mostly) Cold Shoulder”
These days, offering two-factor authentication (2FA), where two different methods are used to verify a user’s login, is fairly standard. EFF has frequently asserted that it is one of the easiest ways to increase your security. Therefore, it seemed like a basic first step for daycare apps.
