Robotic vacuum cleaners in the United States have been subjected to successive cyberattacks, giving hackers the ability to control the devices and use their speakers to shout racist remarks and insults at those around them, according to reports from ABC News.
All the devices affected by the attacks were of the same model, the Ecovacs Deebot X2s vacuum cleaner made in China, which had gained a reputation for being easy to hack due to a critical security vulnerability.
In one case, ABC News reporters were able to gain full control of one of these vacuums, including the camera.
One victim, attorney Daniel Swenson of Minnesota, said he was watching television when the vacuum started making strange noises. When he checked the app, he discovered that an unknown person was tampering with the camera.
After resetting the password, the vacuum continued to move on its own, and the speakers began emitting human voices shouting racist slurs in front of his son.
On the same day that Swenson was hacked, a similar incident occurred in Los Angeles where a Deebot X2s vacuum started chasing a dog, and making offensive comments. Five days later, the incident was repeated in El Paso, but the number of compromised devices is not yet clear.
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This issue is related to a security vulnerability that allows hackers to bypass the four-digit password to take control of the vacuum. This issue was revealed in December 2023, and there is a vulnerability in the Bluetooth connector that allows full access from a distance of up to 300 feet. However, the occurrence of attacks across the country makes it unlikely that a Bluetooth vulnerability was the cause.
Reports from Gizmodo stated that the company has developed an update to fix the aforementioned security vulnerability, and it is expected to be released next November.
