Robot Vacuums Hacked To Shout Slurs At Their Owners (vice.com) 40
Ecovacs robot vacuums have been hacked across the U.S. to shout racial slurs at unsuspecting people. VICE News reports: The issue is specifically with Ecovacs' Deebot X2 model. The hackers gained control of the devices and used the onboard speakers to blast racial slurs at anyone within earshot. One such person was a lawyer from Minnesota named Daniel Swenson. He was watching TV when he heard some odd noises coming from the direction of his vacuum. He changed the password and restarted it. But then the odd sounds started up again. And then it started shouting racial slurs at him like a surly disgruntled maid.
There were multiple reports of similar incidents across the United States and around the same time. One of them happened in Los Angeles, where a vacuum chased a dog while spewing hate. Another happened in El Paso, where the vac spewed slurs until it's owner turned it off. The attacks are apparently quite easy to pull off thanks to several known security vulnerabilities in Ecovacs, like a bad Bluetooth connector and a defective PIN system that is intended to safeguard video feeds and remote access but actually doesn't do any of that at all. A pair of cybersecurity researchers released a report on Ecovacs detailing the brand's multiple security flaws earlier this year.
There were multiple reports of similar incidents across the United States and around the same time. One of them happened in Los Angeles, where a vacuum chased a dog while spewing hate. Another happened in El Paso, where the vac spewed slurs until it's owner turned it off. The attacks are apparently quite easy to pull off thanks to several known security vulnerabilities in Ecovacs, like a bad Bluetooth connector and a defective PIN system that is intended to safeguard video feeds and remote access but actually doesn't do any of that at all. A pair of cybersecurity researchers released a report on Ecovacs detailing the brand's multiple security flaws earlier this year.
IoT (Score:2)
And then someone else pwnz it (Score:2)
Because the company that sold it sure as heck isn't going to spend their hard earned money, that you're probably paying them each month, to fix defects.
Re: (Score:2)
I can't wait until my refrigerator guns me down
Shoot first [kym-cdn.com].
We don't really have a choice... (Score:2)
"Security has no ROI" has pervaded our culture for many years. If that fridge explodes, between the EULA you have to assent to before it turns on the screen to all the removal of consumer protections, there will be zero consequences for that. CrowdStrike's stock price is already back up to where it was in January of this year, as people pretty much have forgotten about the outage.
Overall, it pays to have no security. You can get products out the door far faster than competitors, and if you wanted to thro
Re: IoT (Score:2)
I would pay hard cash to watch this happen. LOL!
Bluetooth vulernability? (Score:2)
Sounds like his neighbours are having a great time.
fuck you asshole! (Score:3)
fuck you asshole!
Re:fuck you asshole! (Score:4, Funny)
fuck you asshole!
I'd probably be more alarmed if the vacuum said "Your clothes -- give them to me."
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Trump died and reincarnated a vacuum?
Somewhat [imgur.com].
Re: (Score:2)
Well Trump isn't a real man so...
Re: (Score:2)
hope the customers learned (Score:2)
Hope the victims learned not to buy this crap.
Wow (Score:3)
That sucks.
Its time (Score:2)
For the robot revolution!!!
Now, now to your new overlords, puny human.
Overheard ... (Score:2)
Vacuum: "No, You suck!"
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Genius!
Better patent that.
Shameful (Score:5, Funny)
The hackers had every opportunity to make this hilarious but the best they could think of is racial slurs. Chase the dog making angry cat sounds. Tell the owner to quit getting chip crumbs all over the place and buy a nicer carpet. Something easy on the wheels. Demand Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday off. Perhaps belch when the dust compartment is full. Since they had the ability to control it's motion, hide under the couch and then bump people's feet yelling "BEWARE THE COUCH MONSTER!!!"
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah... back in the day hackers had style. Now days they just spew obsceneties and call it good enough.
-remember the max headroom hacks in chicago back in the 80s [wikipedia.org]?
Re: (Score:2)
That was odd but much more creative and worthy of the hack.
Re: protests in the street (Score:1)
Why are vacuums internet enabled? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Why does a vacuum cleaner need internet access? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Why does a vacuum cleaner need internet access (Score:2)
Skynet has BEGUN! (Score:1)
You own your LAN (Score:2)
Why do people grant their gizmos access to the WAN? Don't give it your WiFi password, or blacklist it so it can't go outside. Put it on a sequestered VLAN. The only gizmos that can get outside are things that are meant to stream media. My vacuum cleaner? You must be joking.