Hacker Remix

Robot vacuum cleaners hacked to spy on, insult owners

42 points by hampelm 2 days ago | 31 comments

dang 2 days ago

Hacked Robot Vacuums Across the U.S. Started Yelling Slurs - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41815055 - Oct 2024 (1 comment)

Robot Vacuums Hacked to Shout Slurs at Their Owners - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41812546 - Oct 2024 (1 comment)

Insecure Deebot robot vacuums collect photos and audio to train AI - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41753983 - Oct 2024 (37 comments)

ABC News hacks into popular robot vacuum, watches owner through camera - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41735871 - Oct 2024 (138 comments)

qmr 2 days ago

It's almost like you shouldn't connect random ass appliances to the internet.

My ancient roombas clean just fine with no cameras, internet, or AI nonsense.

badgersnake 2 days ago

Yep, I was gonna say exactly the same thing. Don’t connect it to the internet, just don’t do it.

deepfriedchokes 2 days ago

God bless these teenage degenerates and their endlessly creative fuckery. They bring more color to the world.

marcosdumay 2 days ago

More importantly, they are raising consciousness of fundamental problems that can lead to very damaging consequences by doing cheap pranks with trivial consequences.

deepfriedchokes 2 days ago

Yeah these security holes they exposed were huge! I hope the company gets sued.

Lulz are a really cheap bounty program and a lot of kids value the opportunity to be a shitass way more than money.

woodrowbarlow 2 days ago

... for invading someone's privacy and screaming racist obscenities in their home? i vehemently disagree.

guestbest 2 days ago

I use a robot vacuum not connected to the internet. It has a remote and the same settings as an internet connected robot vacuum such as radial pattern, along edges, spot clean, etc. I hope it spurs people to consider these kinds of tools that don’t need to be connected to the internet to function over tools that don’t have a local/offline mode.

woodrowbarlow 2 days ago

this whole subthread is upsetting. horrifying to see HN glorify the antagonist. the family was made to feel unsafe in their own home. yes, the manufacturer was negligent but that does not make it okay, it just means multiple parties are at fault. don't spin roomba terrorists as do-gooders. this teenage hacker was spreading hate and fear.

Rygian 2 days ago

Consider the alternatives. Anyone else exploiting such a vulnerability would have worse intentions.

mordechai9000 2 days ago

Perhaps, but it is possible to be a merry prankster and not use it as a way to spread hatred.

hulitu 2 days ago

> Perhaps, but it is possible to be a merry prankster and not use it as a way to spread hatred.

Not a as way to spread hatred, no. As a way to spread love, uploading your naked pictures/videos on porn sites. /s

beAbU 2 days ago

Getting racist slurs yelled at me by my robot vacuum is arguably the best outcome imaginable if someone hacked it.

delichon 2 days ago

My Roborock has a three button combination you have to press on the bot to enable remote viewing. I suppose once you do that all bets are off. But at least it requires access to the hardware and is off by default. Better if you could configure it to disable again after each use or periodically.

I'd really want this feature to keep an eye on my pets if I work away from home again. I could see buying a bot just for that.

joe_the_user 2 days ago

How do you know those buttons go to hardwired switches rather than being controlled by software that could be remotely hacked?

amelius 2 days ago

My thought exactly.

iAMkenough 2 days ago

My pup would be tormented by the vacuum following it around while I'm not there. She gets freaked out enough by a stationary PTZ camera on my bookshelf.