Home Robots May be the Next Target for Hackers
A paper published recently by researchers at the University of Washington shows that several commercial home robots–essentially small, wheeled bots with cameras, microphones and other audio-visual surveillance features–are not as secure as their owners might think. The researchers studied 2008 models of the Erector Spykee, and WowWee’s RoboSapien and Rovio robots and found security holes that include unencrypted audio-visual streams, unencrypted usernames and passwords for accessing and controlling the bots, and tricks for taking over the robots remotely.
The researchers say on their website:
[These vulnerabilities] mean that someone might be able to drive your robot around your home, look around the house, listen in on conversations, and knock over small objects.
Since few people have personal robots it’s hardly a major threat. But the researchers point out that better security and privacy safety measures will need to be taken as home robots become more common. To stay protected, they recommend keeping networks and robot control encrypted, avoiding remote access, and turning off the robots when they’re not in use.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook?
Robot vacuum companies say your images are safe, but a sprawling global supply chain for data from our devices creates risk.
A startup says it’s begun releasing particles into the atmosphere, in an effort to tweak the climate
Make Sunsets is already attempting to earn revenue for geoengineering, a move likely to provoke widespread criticism.
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023
These exclusive satellite images show that Saudi Arabia’s sci-fi megacity is well underway
Weirdly, any recent work on The Line doesn’t show up on Google Maps. But we got the images anyway.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.