Ecovacs home robots can be hacked to spy on their owners, researchers say | TechCrunch
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Researchers found flaws that could allow anyone to spy on the owners of Ecovacs home robots by hijacking their cameras and microphones.

Malicious hackers can take over control of vacuum and lawn mower robots made by Ecovacs to spy on their owners using the devices’ cameras and microphones, new research has found.

Security researchers Dennis Giese and Braelynn are due to speak at the Def Con hacking conference on Saturday detailing their research into Ecovacs robots. When they analyzed several Ecovacs products, the two researchers found a number of issues that can be abused to hack the robots via Bluetooth and surreptitiously switch on microphones and cameras remotely.

“Their security was really, really, really, really bad,” Giese told TechCrunch in an interview ahead of the talk.

The researchers said they reached out to Ecovacs to report the vulnerabilities but never heard back from the company, and believe the vulnerabilities are still not fixed and could be exploited by hackers.

  • zaphod@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Am I the only one who thinks vacuums, washing machines, fridges and so on shouldn’t be connected to the internet?

    • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      I don’t disagree, but I think automation is cool, especially if you can keep it local (or have the tools to secure it on the internet). Valetudo can help make that possible. My current robot vacuum is pretty crappy, but it doesn’t have cameras or mapping. My next will be one that has mapping and can be easily flashed with local hosting.

      • MrPoopbutt@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        Flashing a dreame L10s was difficult but worth it. I’d recommend it if you have the expertise. I did end up having to buy a USB breakout board from eBay, though.

    • Lifecoach5000@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      I’m not super happy about it, but my roomba is absolutely essential now that I’ve been spoiled with it. I don’t like the idea of any of my appliances being online straight tied to a vendor’s app and service - but I’m willing to accept the trade off in this instance. Maybe someday I’ll upgrade to a different robot vac. I know there are FOSS setups to work around some of those challenges and circumvent some of the BS.