Turbulence at Tenga: Sex Toy Company Hacked
Preventing pesky privacy risks that can purloin your pleasure
It’s so not fun when even a casual customer service query can put one’s personal information at risk. That’s what happened to 600 customers of Tenga Store USA, a branch of the popular Japanese sex toy manufacturer. According to TechCrunch, a hacker recently gained access to one employee’s email account, and thus to personal details of hundreds of people who are just trying to figure out their single-use, Keith Haring-inspired Tenga Eggs.
Of course the company promptly notified consumers of the hack and strengthened their security and email systems in order to protect consumer privacy. Customers of Lovense, another respected sex toy company, were in a similar pickle last year, though not through hacking. In this case, internal security flaws were to blame, potentially exposing 20 million user emails.
Talk about a buzz kill! So what’s a pleasure-craving consumer to do?
Internet of Dongs to the rescue
It should be apparent to the average toy user that we can no longer enjoy the many benefits of sex tech without potentially risking exposure of identity details and other intimate information, however most people have no idea there could even be a problem with purchasing a toy online, contacting customer service if the thing won’t behave, or through connecting it to another device or internet platform.
Fortunately, there is help. Enter the Internet of Dongs (IoD) project, created by a group of public-spirited internet security researchers. Honestly, I have seldom come across a more important consumer resource! A particularly important part of IoD’s mission is:
“to establish bridges to the vendors of these devices and educate them on security, privacy and best practices, thus raising the security bar on the industry as a whole. The other part is to educate consumers about choosing devices responsibly to protect themselves. This involves what they should look for in products and from vendors to safeguard their privacy and security.”
The website features a Dong List of devices they’ve already evaluated, as well as a link to the frequently updated Index of Sex Toys (IoST). IoD has a guide for researchers interested in reporting sex toy security vulnerabilities. Their device vulnerability reports (DVE Reports) can be found here.
Questions to ask before buying: IoD’s recommendations
Before purchasing your next sex toy, check out the IoD project’s useful list of consumer questions. Here are the first five. Please go to the actual page and read the rest.
- “Does this device include remote control capabilities?
- Am I comfortable with any data from my remote usage being passed through the company’s servers, even if encrypted?
- Am I comfortable with any intimate data being sent over the internet regardless of the security measures in place?
- Does the device’s software require an email address, phone number or other personally identifying information to register or otherwise use the software?
- Am I comfortable with the vendor knowing this personally identifying information along with any other data that may be sent to their servers such as usage data?”
Though Tenga’s incident was due to hacking of customer service emails, not toy connectivity, it’s probably true that problems connecting toys via Bluetooth might make up a large number of complaints to vendors, thus adding to user vulnerability.
IoD is working with several sponsors, partner vendors, and supporters, including the following NSFW sites: Pornhub, The Traveling Tickle Trunk, Lovense, Kiroo, OhMiBod, and Mystery Vibe. We can assume that companies working with IoD to address vulnerabilities probably have a heightened awareness of customer privacy and security.
Unfortunately, there is a downside of the IoD site. Its blogs and articles only date from 2016-2024. Though these articles have historical value, and some are even amusing, this lack of updates is concerning. I only hope that content on the other pages is kept more current.
Focus on pleasure, but keep informed
It is ultimately up to consumers to stay informed about safety and privacy risks and to protect ourselves as best as we can. Asking questions and seeking information is one of the best ways to start, but vetting the accuracy of the answers we get might be difficult.
Sex tech advances quickly. Keeping up with it can be difficult. New features often result in new terminology. As product manuals become more complex—using unfamiliar terms and newer apps—fewer users might understand them. Therefore starting with basic questions about privacy can at least help us choose the level of sex tech that enables us to feel comfortable, relaxed, and ready for private, intimate pleasures.
And that’s how it should be—now and in the future—no matter how sophisticated our sexual technologies become.
Image Source: A.R. Marsh using Ideogram.ai.
