In a string of strange and unsettling incidents, hackers hijacked robot vacuum cleaners in several US cities. The hackers used the devices to shout racist obscenities through their onboard speakers. According to an ABC News report, the devices targeted were all Ecovacs Deebot X2 models, known for a critical security vulnerability that made them easy targets for hackers.
Ecovacs, a Chinese company with a sketchy history of security breaches, was at the center of the chaos. The company’s robot vacuums, equipped with cameras and speakers, have been susceptible to cyberattacks for some time. These breaches have allowed hackers to gain control of the devices and use them to spy on their owners or, in this case, shout offensive slurs.
One of the victims, Daniel Swenson, a lawyer from Minnesota, experienced the bizarre attack firsthand. Swenson was quietly watching TV when he noticed his vacuum behaving oddly. He initially thought it sounded like a garbled radio signal.
After resetting the device and changing the password, he hoped the issue was resolved, but the chaos returned. This time, the vacuum began hurling racial slurs at him as though it had become an angry, malfunctioning robot maid.
Unfortunately, Swenson’s experience wasn’t an isolated incident. Similar reports came from other parts of the US. In Los Angeles, a resident claimed their Deebot X2 started chasing their dog while shouting abusive comments. In El Paso, another device launched into a tirade of racial slurs late at night, terrifying the household.
Despite prior warnings from cybersecurity experts about Ecovacs’ Deebot X2 model’s vulnerability, the company allegedly failed to address the security flaws in time. Hackers reportedly exploited a method known as “credential stuffing,” where old passwords obtained from data breaches on other websites were used to gain access to users’ digital devices.
The absurdity of robot vacuums turning into vehicles for hate speech seems almost unbelievable, but given Ecovacs’ poor track record with cybersecurity, this attack has raised serious concerns.
Customer support will likely need to brace for more complaints from users dealing with rogue, offensive vacuums. Swenson noted that customer support believed the hackers had taken advantage of weak security measures, suggesting that the company may not have done enough to protect its users from such attacks.
As the story unfolds, it highlights the growing risks of cybersecurity breaches in smart home devices, which, while convenient, are increasingly becoming gateways for hackers to cause mayhem in unexpected and often disturbing ways.