> he soon discovered that the same credentials that allowed him to see and control his own device also provided access to live camera feeds, microphone audio, maps, and status data from nearly 7,000 other vacuums across 24 countries.
This is extremely similar to what I accidentally discovered and disclosed about Mysa smart thermostats last year: the same credentials could be used to access, inspect, and control all of them, anywhere in the world.
Anyone who's somewhat technically inclined should, in my opinion, only be buying valetudo [0] compatible vacuums and replacing the default software as soon as possible.
I found the “Why Not Valetudo” page on that site extremely persuasive. I would consider myself technically inclined. I also own a robot vacuum so I can spend more time doing important things that leverage my skills. Valetudo does not serve this mission.
Very impressive, but I disagree that this is the clear best choice for anywhere close to anyone.
> In order for the Romo, or really any modern autonomous vacuum, to function it needs to constantly collect visual data from the building it is operating in.
I specifically bought one without a camera or mic.
“Accidentally” is not accurate. He used AI to inspect the source and found credentials that work in all devices. He also never gained control of anyone else’s devices. He never used the exploit.
I didn't read the article but based on the title and subheading I assume they say "accidentally" because he was trying to reverse engineer the communication protocol to use his own device and he did not expect to find something as dumb as master credentials that would work on others' devices.
"Accidentally" as in his intent was to gain control of his own device but instead discovered what would in a just world be considered criminal levels of either incompetence or indifference to the most basic levels of security in the entire product line.
Agreed, this sort of thing should at minimum be considered gross negligence at this point, but because regular consumers who buy these products rarely see and almost never understand these news articles it doesn't really impact sales so the company doesn't care.
If this discovery was guaranteed to result in meaningful fines companies would get their act together pretty quickly. 7000 counts of negligent exposure of private data (camera/mic feeds) should in a just world be millions of dollars in fines at the least and arguably criminal charges for management.
Exactly. If GDPR fines can be so high, then something like this that is pretty much intentionally leaking personal data should be in the same ballpark.
Audio and video surveillance via robot vacuum is a feature: you can control the vacuum, see and hear the world from its perspective, and spy on your cats. I wish I were kidding.
This is extremely similar to what I accidentally discovered and disclosed about Mysa smart thermostats last year: the same credentials could be used to access, inspect, and control all of them, anywhere in the world.
See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43392991
[0] https://valetudo.cloud/
Very impressive, but I disagree that this is the clear best choice for anywhere close to anyone.
> First of all, please do not try to convince people to use Valetudo.
A good realist position for such a project to take.
I specifically bought one without a camera or mic.
Happy with it but note that I dont have carpets, I guess for carpets you need something with more features.
Q Revo has an IR sensor which doesn't transmit that data anywhere.
Are you thinking of the S8 line? That's the one with the MaxV model.
rather than buying it from scamazon
Like how many layers of people had to have OKed having the same password for all of them? It’s incompetence on an impressive scale.
If this discovery was guaranteed to result in meaningful fines companies would get their act together pretty quickly. 7000 counts of negligent exposure of private data (camera/mic feeds) should in a just world be millions of dollars in fines at the least and arguably criminal charges for management.
Accompanying discussion on hn https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47047808
Sorry what? Why would a vacuum cleaner even need a microphone?
https://youtu.be/TltYXEDoong?t=412