Posted on 01/22/2019 5:06:32 PM PST by RightGeek
ORINDA — Laura Lyons was preparing food in her kitchen Sunday when the lazy afternoon took a turn for the absurd. A loud squawking — similar to the beginning of an emergency broadcast alert — blasted from the living room, the Orinda mother said, followed by a detailed warning of three North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles headed to Los Angeles, Chicago and Ohio.
“It warned that the United States had retaliated against Pyongyang and that people in the affected areas had three hours to evacuate,” Lyons said Monday. “It sounded completely legit, and it was loud and got our attention right off the bat. … It was five minutes of sheer terror and another 30 minutes trying to figure out what was going on.”
Lyons and her husband stood slack-jawed in the living room, terrified but also confused because the television continued airing the NFC Championship football game. As their scared 8-year-old son crawled underneath the rug, the couple realized the apocalyptic warning came from their Nest security camera atop their living room television.
After many panicked minutes and phone calls to 911 and to Nest, the couple learned they likely were the victims of a hacker. And that panic turned to anger when they found out that Nest knew that there had been a number of such incidents — none involving nuclear strike scenarios — but failed to alert customers. Lyons said a Nest supervisor told them Sunday they likely were the victims of a “third party hack” that gained access to their camera and its speakers.
...
The Lyons are not alone.
Reports from across the country indicate a growing problem of hackers accessing the WiFi-enabled cameras from Nest and other similar companies.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Orinda, the “bedroom community” for UC Berkeley Professors. I guess some of their $hit leaked over the hill!
More device users that have no concept of a password.
That’s why I don’t have one of those supposedly smart houses. It would probably attack me. I guess very few people learned from Hal.
It’s called the “IoT”: Internet of Things.
And, “Things” can and will happen, a lot of them not very nice.
This is why there is a band-aid covering my laptop camera.
Perhaps the lesson here is that “secure WiFi” isn’t. For that matter, “secure Internet” isn’t either, not really.
I have what would be considered a smart home, home automation, but I stop at the firewall.
I will not have any part or component that has a cloud connection. My entire control is within my local LAN. It works 100% even if my internet connection goes down. Thermostats, solar, generator, power switches, all are LAN controlled.
Do not trust the web, period.
Read this in the morning fish wrap and couldn’t help but chuckle at the fools.
This is just more new technology for the sake of new technology. Sorry, but I’ve become a Luddite in the past 5-10 years, after being something of an early adopter when I was younger. Very few of these companies think through the unintended consequences anymore, and the idiots to whom they market these products are either too stupid or too “busy” to be bothered investigating what they are getting themselves into.
The next “new tech” is Nissan’s newest auto innovation where you don’t need to use the gas pedal or the brake in traffic, the car does it itself. My wife and I looked at each other after the ad and gave each other the “Ain’t happening in this household” look.
A Google company
If anyone tells you, you have three hours to spare, you’re already on to them. At best you’d have 25 to 45 minutes. If it’s a cruise missile fired from a sub off-shore, you could have less than ten.
>>Lyons and her husband stood slack-jawed in the living room, terrified but also confused because the television continued airing the NFC Championship football game.
There have been several “doom” situations (Titanic, fires, etc.) where there was little to no chance of survival so the band just plays on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musicians_of_the_RMS_Titanic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm_Club_fire
This is a clear case of people owning equipment that they are too stupid to own.
It’s easy to protect, along with the home WiFi.
But not if you’re stupid.
“Perhaps the lesson here is that “secure WiFi” isn’t. “
WiFi is secure.
If yours is not secure it is your fault.
Read the effin’ manual. (RTFM).
Ring ring
Lady: Hello?
Kid: Hey, is your refrigerator running?
Lady: Why, yes.
Kid: You’d better go chase it!
“And, “Things” can and will happen, a lot of them not very nice.”
The fridge orders 146 gallons of milk.
The Nest thermostat decides it likes Saudi Arabia.
The facial recognition door lock prefers Bozo.
The washing machine decides to REALLY clean those jeans.
The music store app thinks your collection is too parochial and downloads a few hundred albums to spice it up.
.......
Although he liked 1984 he said Orwell got it wrong.
Big Brother wouldn't be forced on people by a tyrannical government. People would willing give up their freedoms for pleasure and convince.
While everyone cites 1984 Huxley was closer to the truth than Orwell.
Wouldn’t you love to be the fly on a few walls when Orson Welles’ Martian invasion hit the air waves?
More to the point, “the internet of things.”
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