Hackers take control of robot vacuums in multiple US cities and abuse owners, yells racist slurs

Luu Tuyen@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 359 points –
Hackers take control of robot vacuums in multiple US cities and abuse owners
abc.net.au
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"Why do they have to make everything about race? It's like they're obsessed. Nobody cares what color you are!"

Also these racists: "Hmm. You know what's a good use of my time? Going out of my way to hack a Roomba so I can call my neighbor the N-Word."

Why do these things need to be internet connected in the first place?

To harvest your data and sell it to anyone who'll pay for it; including racists, hackers, and criminals.

I want them wifi connected at least so I can set my own schedule or control with Home Assistant. They don't need to connect to any server except my own.

I would think Bluetooth or plugging it in once in a blue moon for a firmware/schedule update like the good old days would be far preferable to anything that could connect them to the internet. I’d much rather air gapped and slightly inconvenient than internet enabled spyware all over my house.

Maybe I'm giving them too much credit, but if you want to bring national news attention to poor security without doing real damage, racial slurs are probably the most sure fire way to do so.