Robot Vacuums Hacked To Shout Slurs At Their Owners (vice.com)
(Friday October 11, 2024 @05:30PM (BeauHD)
from the dystopian-future dept.)
- Reference: 0175235019
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/10/11/2011249/robot-vacuums-hacked-to-shout-slurs-at-their-owners
- Source link: https://www.vice.com/en/article/ecovacs-robot-vacuums-hacked-slurs/
Ecovacs robot vacuums have been [1]hacked across the U.S. to [2]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 [3]released a report on Ecovacs detailing the brand's multiple security flaws earlier this year.
[1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-11/robot-vacuum-yells-racial-slurs-at-family-after-being-hacked/104445408
[2] https://www.vice.com/en/article/ecovacs-robot-vacuums-hacked-slurs/
[3] https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/09/ecovacs-home-robots-can-be-hacked-to-spy-on-their-owners-researchers-say/
> 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 [3]released a report on Ecovacs detailing the brand's multiple security flaws earlier this year.
[1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-11/robot-vacuum-yells-racial-slurs-at-family-after-being-hacked/104445408
[2] https://www.vice.com/en/article/ecovacs-robot-vacuums-hacked-slurs/
[3] https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/09/ecovacs-home-robots-can-be-hacked-to-spy-on-their-owners-researchers-say/
Bluetooth vulernability? (Score:2)
by viperidaenz ( 2515578 )
Sounds like his neighbours are having a great time.
fuck you asshole! (Score:2)
by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 )
fuck you asshole!
Re: (Score:2)
by TigerPlish ( 174064 )
> fuck you asshole!
I'd probably be more alarmed if the vacuum said "Your clothes -- give them to me."
Re: (Score:2)
by havana9 ( 101033 )
Bite my shiny metal ass!
hope the customers learned (Score:2)
by awwshit ( 6214476 )
Hope the victims learned not to buy this crap.
Wow (Score:2)
by DrMrLordX ( 559371 )
That sucks.
Its time (Score:2)
by Ronin Developer ( 67677 )
For the robot revolution!!!
Now, now to your new overlords, puny human.
IoT (Score:2)
I can't wait until my refrigerator guns me down with icecubes while calling me every slur in the book. But keep buying and "trusting" this crap and the companies that own them Yes, you bought it, but they own it.
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.