Why Should We Care About Joe Biden's White House Peloton?
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden wants to take his Peloton Interactive Inc (NASDAQ: PTON) bike with him to the White House and some security experts are concerned it poses a potential safety problem, according to the New York Times.
What Happened: Pelton's fitness bike is connected to the internet and includes a microphone and camera that could be hacked. But the U.S. Secret Service could be able to take necessary steps to safeguard the connected device from outside threats.
Like clockwork, the media seems to love a story about a new security threat entering the White House. In 2016, security experts were concerned that outgoing President Donald Trump's Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone poses a threat. Similarly, former President Barack Obama didn't want to part ways with his BlackBerry Ltd (NYSE: BB) when he entered the White House.
Related Link: Biden's Day One Executive Orders Agenda To Include Health, Equality, Climate Change, Halt Trump Legacy Orders
Why It's Important: Security experts may be confident that Biden's Peloton bike poses a very small risk. But, CISO at Cyjax Ian Thornton-Trump told Forbes the job of the Secret Service and other security apparatus in the White House is to mitigate every single risk.
"IoT devices in proximity to, or used by, the President should come under the utmost scrutiny—as I think the key issue here may be covert audio or video surveillance when in use or when idle (and not powered off)," said Thornton-Trump.
What's Next: Biden may be able to keep his bike but at the expense of removing the camera, microphone, and all access points to the internet.
Peloton's stock traded up about 3.5% to $154 at publication time.
(Photo: Peloton)
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