Roombas Compromised in Hack Shout Racist Obscenities at Owners – ABC
In several US cities, robotic vacuum cleaners have been malfunctioning due to hackers allegedly gaining control over them. Read Full Article at RT.com
TroibNews 
Autonomous vacuum cleaners in the US have come under scrutiny following reports of hacking incidents that have left some devices misbehaving.
Reports from several cities indicate that owners of robotic vacuum cleaners have experienced unexpected behaviors, including their devices shouting obscenities. This was highlighted in an ABC News report on Thursday.
Daniel Swenson, a lawyer from Minnesota, shared his experience with his Chinese-made Ecovacs Deebot X2. While watching television, he noticed that the vacuum began to malfunction, initially producing noises reminiscent of a fragmented radio signal punctuated by snippets of what appeared to be a voice.
After discovering that an unknown individual had connected to his vacuum and was using its remote control feature, Swenson initially thought it was simply a glitch and rebooted the device. However, shortly after restarting, it began to move again and started yelling racist obscenities, repeating “f* n***s” multiple times.
“I got the impression it was a kid, maybe a teenager [speaking],” Swenson remarked, speculating that “maybe they were just jumping from device to device, messing with families.”
ABC reported that similar hacking incidents have emerged across the US in recent months. For instance, a hacked Deebot X2 in Los Angeles was said to have chased an owner's dog around the house while swearing through its speakers. In another case, an Ecovacs robot in El Paso, Texas, was noted for shouting racial slurs until its owner unplugged it.
Before these incidents, researchers had attempted to alert Ecovacs to critical vulnerabilities in its vacuum cleaners and the accompanying app, particularly concerning the robots’ Bluetooth controllers and the PIN code system that safeguards the video feed and remote control feature. Cybersecurity experts warned that the four-digit PIN securing the devices was easily circumventable because it was only verified by the app, not the server or the robot itself.
Ecovacs has validated Swenson's account after he filed a complaint, though the company argued that the incident was a result of an unauthorized person accessing Swenson’s account and password rather than a breach of Ecovacs’ systems.
Nonetheless, the manufacturer has announced plans to release a security update for X2 series robot vacuum cleaner owners in November.
Rohan Mehta for TROIB News
Reports from several cities indicate that owners of robotic vacuum cleaners have experienced unexpected behaviors, including their devices shouting obscenities. This was highlighted in an ABC News report on Thursday.
Daniel Swenson, a lawyer from Minnesota, shared his experience with his Chinese-made Ecovacs Deebot X2. While watching television, he noticed that the vacuum began to malfunction, initially producing noises reminiscent of a fragmented radio signal punctuated by snippets of what appeared to be a voice.
After discovering that an unknown individual had connected to his vacuum and was using its remote control feature, Swenson initially thought it was simply a glitch and rebooted the device. However, shortly after restarting, it began to move again and started yelling racist obscenities, repeating “f* n***s” multiple times.
“I got the impression it was a kid, maybe a teenager [speaking],” Swenson remarked, speculating that “maybe they were just jumping from device to device, messing with families.”
ABC reported that similar hacking incidents have emerged across the US in recent months. For instance, a hacked Deebot X2 in Los Angeles was said to have chased an owner's dog around the house while swearing through its speakers. In another case, an Ecovacs robot in El Paso, Texas, was noted for shouting racial slurs until its owner unplugged it.
Before these incidents, researchers had attempted to alert Ecovacs to critical vulnerabilities in its vacuum cleaners and the accompanying app, particularly concerning the robots’ Bluetooth controllers and the PIN code system that safeguards the video feed and remote control feature. Cybersecurity experts warned that the four-digit PIN securing the devices was easily circumventable because it was only verified by the app, not the server or the robot itself.
Ecovacs has validated Swenson's account after he filed a complaint, though the company argued that the incident was a result of an unauthorized person accessing Swenson’s account and password rather than a breach of Ecovacs’ systems.
Nonetheless, the manufacturer has announced plans to release a security update for X2 series robot vacuum cleaner owners in November.
Rohan Mehta for TROIB News
