Hackers Turn Robot Vacs Across the US Into Obscenity-Yelling Machines

Cybersecurity is not something to take lightly, and a new report about a smart home product perfectly highlights that point. Over the course of several days, multiple robot vacuums were hacked in cities across the US.

ABC News in Australia reports that hackers were able to take full control over robot vacs in multiple cities around the country. The hack allowed the attackers to yell racial slurs at owners, remotely control the device to chase after pets, and see through the vacuum’s camera. All of the affected robot vacuums were of the same make and model, the Chinese-made ECOVACS Deebot X2.

One report comes from a Minnesota lawyer named Daniel Swenson. In Swenson’s case, he was watching TV when he noticed his vacuum making weird noises, like a “broken-up radio signal or something.” Swenson told the outlet that he reset his password and rebooted the robot after seeing a stranger was accessing the live camera feed and remote control feature. After sitting down on the couch with his wife and 13-year-old son, the robot immediately started moving again and Swenson’s family could hear racist obscenities being spewed as clear as day.

“I got the impression it was a kid, maybe a teenager,” Swenson said. “Maybe they were just jumping from device to device messing with families.” The lawyer has since turned off the device and taken it to his garage where it remains powered down. Despite the creepiness of it all, Swenson says it could’ve been worse, the hacker could have quietly observed his family with no one the wiser. Swenson says he kept the robot on the same floor as the family’s master bathroom, adding that, “Our youngest kids take showers in there.” (Read more from “Hackers Turn Robot Vacs Across the US Into Obscenity-Yelling Machines” HERE)

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