Posted on 10/18/2019 12:55:14 PM PDT by ransomnote
A father Googled ‘Nest + camera + hacked’ and found out that this happens frequently
It was an unremarkable Wednesday afternoon when our nanny texted my wife and me asking if we were speaking through one of the Nest cameras in our house. We both replied that we were not.
Then the nanny texted that a voice was coming through the kitchen camera and using bad words.
I immediately pulled up the video feed and began reviewing:
I hear the familiar chime, which means someone is about to talk through the camera. Then, to my horror, a female voice that I don’t recognize starts talking to my 18-month-old son. He looks around the room and then at the ceiling, wondering who’s there.
It feels as though my heart is about to beat through my chest. The blood rushes to my face. I am completely helpless.
The voice is laughing when it chimes in. She says we have a nice house and encourages the nanny to respond. She does not. The voice even jokes that she hopes we don’t change our password. I am sick to my stomach.
After about five minutes of verbal “joy riding,” the voice starts to get agitated at the nanny’s lack of response and then snaps, in a very threatening voice: “I’m coming for the baby if you don’t answer me, bitch!”
My jaw drops.
We unplug the cameras and change all passwords. The nanny has taken our son to the park down the street in an effort to escape. However, the damage has been done.
More at link
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Only the dumbest of people thinks connecting your home security system to the internet is a good idea.
Air gap ONLY people! Worst case, put a dial-up modem on a terminal server and put a complex PWD on it. Or, buy a standard service that uses the telephone network with cellular back-up.
But connected directly to the internet? That’s funny right there, I don’t care who you are.
Quoth The Raven.. Privacy? Never more.
Though I ought not to be, I am constantly stunned so many people live in Lalaland.
I refuse to purchase any pc system that has a camera built into it’s system.
Alexa? Not in my house.
When I type ANYTHING or say ANYTHING it is with the assumption it can ALWAYS be overheard or read.
My jaw dropped the other day when I heard my normally sane sister advise Alexa to drop the volume on her radio.
I’m still trying to explain to this normally sane woman to get rid of Alexa for their own safety and security.
Q: “So what is your password to your WiFi?”
A: “1-2-3-4-5”
“I’ve got the same password on my luggage”
Maybe the idiot should change passwords frequently, never use the same password on two different sites, use easy to remember but difficult to guess passwords and actually, y’know, not be surprised when being lazy backfires.
As with physical security, you *cannot* be lazy on digital security.
Dingo calling
My wife laughed..I laughed..Alexa laughed...
Forget the kids, way too parochial, you can handle that easy. Worry about enslavement of the human race.
Evil tech is real.
it is good that you are so smart and know all this.
But most people don’t and they are probably told that this will allow them to check on their home, while they are away, and that certainly sounds like a good thing and they are not aware of the potential problems, until something bad happens.
Just buy the ADT service.
This is actually comical. I’d be like bring it b1tch. You feel tough? You feel lucky today? I have a 12ga. waiting for you.
See what the voice says after that.
It’s leftist level stupid to carp about privacy while splashing your pre-teen daughter’s visage on the internet.
Doesn’t help if they set the exact same simple password they used on every site for the past decade. Because it’s just too haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard to set and remember separate or even group passwords. Or get a password manager.
I work in IT and do my share of password administration as part of the security aspect of the career. Soooo many people, mostly older Boomers but a few Millennials and others at many of my clients, whining and moaning about having to have more than one password, demanding that we set their new password to the exact same thing as the old expired one, etc.
“I’m still trying to explain to this normally sane woman to get rid of Alexa for their own safety and security.”
And she says?
I’m old enough to remember when, if you wanted to know what your maid or nanny were up to when you were away, you’d get a parrot.
No cams, mics etc connected to the internet-or anything else on any electronic devices at my place, either-same as most people living out here-a cell phone and a loaded firearm nearby are a better investment if you are home-good 6-7 ft. game fencing and a tall locked gate with a loud alarm and game cameras across the driveway when you are not there-whether you are home or not, the sheriff and EMS are at least 30-45 minutes away in this remote, sparsely populated area-Alexa, Nest, etc is not going to prevent anything from happening, so why invite a spying device onto your property?
default passwords anyone?
Two-step authentication makes it impossible for someone to steal your password, unless the hacker also possesses your cellphone. The author is too lazy to understand how it works let alone use it. He would rather write an angry column.
Folks who use Alexa, Echo, Nest, etc. are opening themselves to real trouble.
The IOT (Internet of things) is a bad idea. Does your refrigerator or toaster oven really need an Internet connection?
Don’t forget to unplug your bedroom camera if you and your spouse are feeling amorous.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.