Eyes Wide Open: How to Mitigate the Security and Privacy Risks of Smart Glasses
Kaspersky, Monday, May 11th, 2026
Smart glasses pose significant security and privacy risks through surveillance, data collection, and potential hacking vulnerabilities.
Smart glasses present dual threats to security and privacy for both wearers and bystanders by enabling covert recording, AI-powered facial recognition, and account hijacking. The technology allows users to surreptitiously capture video and photos of strangers, which can be connected to AI algorithms that identify faces and extract personal information, potentially empowering stalkers and fraudsters.
Beyond privacy concerns, sensitive information captured by smart glasses could be exploited for phishing attacks, account takeover, or physical harm, while the devices themselves are vulnerable to hacking through firmware exploits, malicious apps, and social engineering.
The article provides practical mitigation strategies for both wearers-such as keeping software updated, using strong authentication, disabling AI training, and avoiding public Wi-Fi-and bystanders, including monitoring for recording indicators and challenging inappropriate usage.