When Coffee Machines Demand Ransom, You Know IoT Is Screwed
Found on Wired on Tuesday, 06 October 2020
As a thought experiment, Martin Hron, a researcher at the security company Avast, reverse engineered one of the older coffee makers to see what kinds of hacks he could do with it. After just a week of effort, the unqualified answer was: quite a lot. Specifically, he could trigger the coffee maker to turn on the burner, dispense water, spin the bean grinder, and display a ransom message, all while beeping repeatedly. Oh, and by the way, the only way to stop the chaos was to unplug the power cord.
“The lifespan of a typical fridge is 17 years, how long do you think vendors will support software for its smart functionality?”
IoT is a load of junk. Most devices are of low-quality, buggy, harmful to the environment and sometimes downright dangerous. Consumers better think twice if they really need such spyware in their homes.