Father’s Day is a great excuse to upgrade a dad’s gear. Smartwatches, trackers, voice assistants, smart locks, cameras, dashcams, and hobby drones are the usual suspects. They make life easier but they also expand an attack surface. Below I run through the common categories we see gifted, name the real risks to watch for, and lay out quick, practical checks you can do before wrapping that box.

Trackers (AirTag, Tile and similar) Trackers are tiny, cheap, and very useful for keys and luggage. They are also the category that has generated the most public concern about misuse for unwanted tracking and stalking. Reporting and lawsuits have highlighted cases where trackers were used without consent and questioned whether vendor mitigations are fast and robust enough. What to check and do before gifting

  • Only give a tracker if the recipient expects it and understands how it works. Unsolicited trackers are a privacy red flag.
  • Enable any anti-stalking or unknown-tracker alerts on the phone that will carry the tracker’s detection features. If the recipient uses an iPhone, keep Find My settings and notifications enabled and explain how to respond to an alert.
  • Keep firmware updated and prefer vendors with regular security notes. Research shows the problem is not that trackers cannot be made private, but that tradeoffs between usability and detection timing have created gaps researchers exploit.

Smart speakers and voice assistants (Echo, Google Nest, etc.) Voice assistants are convenient and often the first smart device a household adopts. Research has repeatedly shown two categories of risk. First, malicious or poorly vetted third party voice apps can impersonate legitimate skills and exfiltrate information. Second, command injection attacks can be launched across windows and walls if an attacker can place or aim a speaker or drone with audio near the target home. These are not purely theoretical. Academic work has demonstrated voice-squatting and voice-masquerading attacks on commercial systems and physical command injection across barriers. What to check and do before gifting

  • Walk through account security with the recipient: enable two factor authentication, lock down purchasing by voice, and review linked accounts. Treat the speaker like any cloud account.
  • Place speakers away from exterior windows and doors where outside audio could reach them. In spots that have line of sight to neighbors or the street, consider using a physical mute when not in use. The BarrierBypass work shows attackers can inject commands from outside under certain conditions.
  • Consider a local-first assistant or a speaker with strong privacy controls if the recipient is privacy conscious. If the device supports guest or limited modes, enable them for kids and visitors.

Smart locks and door hardware (August, Yale, Schlage, etc.) Smart locks promise convenience. The reality is a mixed security posture across vendors and models. Independent lab work and vulnerability trackers have documented issues ranging from exposed credentials during setup to Bluetooth stack vulnerabilities that can crash or subvert devices. Some branded locks perform better because they use frequency hopping, rolling codes, or stronger hardware protections, while lesser known units are more likely to be susceptible to replay, jamming, and hardware attacks. What to check and do before gifting

  • Favor locks with a clear update policy and a visible security track record. Confirm the vendor provides OTA firmware updates and has a public vulnerability disclosure channel.
  • Put locks on a segmented network or IoT VLAN and avoid exposing administrative interfaces to the internet. Simple consumer routers make this possible with a guest network.
  • Disable remote unlock features if you do not need them, and require strong account passwords and two factor authentication for any cloud service connected to the lock. If the lock allows local keys or Bluetooth fallback, understand how those work under low battery conditions.

Cameras and video doorbells (Ring, Nest, Arlo and local-first alternatives) Cameras are surveillance by design. Beyond the technical issues, there are policy and transparency concerns about who can access footage and how vendors share data with law enforcement or third parties. Advocacy groups have documented longstanding concerns with some large vendor police partnerships and data sharing practices, prompting major public debates and changes in how outlets recommend devices. From a pure security perspective, companion apps and cloud services are common attack vectors. Independent app audits show variable security hygiene among popular camera and alarm apps. What to check and do before gifting

  • Review the vendor privacy policy with the gift recipient. If the policy allows broad sharing with law enforcement or vague emergency disclosures, consider a local-only solution instead.
  • Prefer cameras that offer end to end encryption or local-only storage options. If the camera is cloud-first, force strong, unique passwords and two factor authentication, and enable account notifications for new logins.
  • Keep firmware up to date and remove default accounts and credentials during setup. Audit authorized devices in the account regularly.

Dashcams and in-car devices Dashcams are frequently gifted to people who commute, road trip, or work on the road. The main security considerations are firmware hygiene, hardcoded credentials, and what the vendor does with uploads. Industry reporting and vulnerability summaries show some dashcams have had remote authorization or default password vulnerabilities that allow an attacker on the same network to tamper with uploads or access footage. For buyers who care about privacy, a model with on-device storage and optional cloud upload is preferable. What to check and do before gifting

  • Choose models that explicitly document firmware update cadence and vulnerability disclosures. If a vendor does not respond to security reports, that is a risk.
  • Prefer local storage-first dashcams and avoid automatic cloud sync unless the recipient wants that feature and understands the tradeoffs.

Hobby drones and airspace privacy Drones are an obvious gift for many dads. They are terrific for aerial photos and they also raise safety and privacy issues. Academic tests of voice injection using small airborne platforms underline how mobile audio sources can change the threat model for nearby devices. When gifting a drone, include a moment of education about local regulations, geofencing features, and where it is safe and legal to fly.

A short lab checklist to run before you gift

  • Update everything. Firmware and app updates fix many known problems. If the device cannot be updated, do not gift it to someone who needs security.
  • Create or review the account. Use a unique password and enable two factor authentication where supported. Register the device to the recipient’s account, not your own.
  • Configure privacy features. Turn off features you do not need such as voice purchasing, unnecessary cloud backups, or remote unlocking. Opt for local storage when privacy matters.
  • Network segregation. Put the device on a guest or IoT VLAN so it cannot directly talk to family PCs and phones. This is a quick way to limit damage if the device is compromised.
  • Teach the recipient. A five minute walk-through of alerts, privacy settings, and how to check authorized devices prevents many future headaches. Explain how to revoke access and update credentials.

Final note Gifts should make life better, not create a maintenance burden or a privacy risk. The best approach is to pick a device with good update practices and an explicit privacy stance, set it up on the recipient’s account, and walk them through the security basics. If you want to get fancy, include a small printed cheat sheet with the device name, account email used, and steps to check for updates. That one-page lab note is the prototype every household needs.