Hackers take control of robot vacuums in multiple US cities and abuse owners
Hackers take control of robot vacuums in multiple US cities and abuse owners
Ecovacs robot vacuums in multiple US cities were hacked in the space of a few days, with the attacker physically controlling them and yelling obscenities through their onboard speakers.
Despite the slurs, Mr Swenson was glad that the hackers had announced their presence so loudly.
It would have been much worse, he said, if they had decided to quietly observe his family inside their home.
They could've peered through his robot's camera, and listened through the microphone, without him having the slightest clue.
Why does a vacuum cleaner have a spy camera and microphone? Insane thing to have in a house with children.
Camera makes some amount of sense. Can be used to keep it from running over wires, or getting caught up in something like a loose curtain. Stuff that would be difficult to handle with non-visual sensors.
Microphone? Oh hell no. No purpose.
Ah, yeah that makes sense. Brainfart on my part.
Why does it have a audio output?
The camera is used for visual odometry. They're usually black and white and very low resolution though.
Microphone, I have no idea. Could be useful for floor type detection or something? Voice control?
I know people like to have faith in technology but I live by the idea that "if it connects to the internet, it will be hacked/hackable."
Fuck that noise, I'll push my "old school" vacuum around tyvm...
Not just things connected to the internet. Radio-controlled things can also be hacked/hackable. Electronic devices are prone to EM interference. Air-gapped systems have flaws somewhere, even if the flaws come from the human operators (social engineering, humans are hackable). There's no such thing as a non-hackable thing.
Don't buy Chinese electronics where possible. Frankly I just figure they all have built in flaws.
That guy has some compelling arguments against localisation on this page.
This is the answer.
We really need regulation at the FCC level also, such that users are able to physically disable any and all WiFi radios in the device. I want to buy a tv and completely physically disable any wireless radios there in (I don’t want my electronics band hopping in free WiFi unless I’ve asked them too).
We also need privacy regulation at the FTC such that any product capable of connecting to the internet discloses such, gives the user at any time an export of the data it has waiting for export or the last export it did, and allows for the owner to disable any such data export over the internet on a permanent basis.
Just flip them over or turn off your router bro...
Some real tyler the creator energy
Why? Its hilarious.
lucky mine is too old for this shit. it's so much help.