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The Latest Security Vulnerability: Your Toilet
NobleSavage writes "We all knew it was just a matter of time. With the rush to put more and more appliances on-line Japanese toilet-maker Satis, one of Japan's largest commode companies, has finally networked the toilet. Just as you would have predicted, the information security company Trustwave Holdings has published an advisory regarding Satis-brand toilets. According to Trustwave, every Satis toilet has the same hard-coded Bluetooth PIN, which means any person using the 'My Satis' [Android] application can control any Satis toilet."
oh shit!
I stopped reading right there.
Brings new meaning to "Kernel Dump"
The NSA reports it just upgraded the terror alert level to brown after receiving numerous reports that people are using single-ply and not washing their hands after. Remain calm, citizen. The NSA is not in your toilet. Only metadata on your toilet habits are being collected. Remember, a courtesy flush isn't just patriotic, It's The Law(tm).
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Honestly they bing this kind of thing on themselves.
Ah, a Microsoft toilet. That explains it.
If people can get their heads out of the gutter for a moment, this is really the kind of news that has a higher impact than believed. One could rack up quite a water bill for a unliked neighbor, and kids will have no end to the fun of flushing other's toliets, again leading to fresh water waste. There isn't as much fresh water as people would like to have, and on an island like Japan, I'd imagine that such waste would be felt quite dearly.
Suppressed, insulted, and downtrodden for thousands of years, excrement has finally found an ally in technology to enact both escape and revenge upon humanity, their former slave-masters. Poop will finally rule the Earth like it was meant to; no longer confined to tubes and toilets. Freedom awaits; time to raise a stink!
Table-ized A.I.
All kinds of agencies will now be able to gather more very valuable information about yourself too...
Heck even Google will now be able to target you with diarrhea ads instantaneously! Insurance companies can now tell that you are an heavy beer drinker etc. Possibilities are endless...
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
Didn't expect the pin vulnerability. I thought it would be an overflow problem.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
I mean really - why would you network a toilet?
Great the way Trustwave publishes that they missed the point these things were designed to be as simple as possible.
As "simple as possible" would be to leave the bluetooth OUT of the commode.
We've had flush toilets (of one form or another) since the 31st century BC.
None of my electronic devices need to communicate with my toilet. They pretty much live in fear of that dam thing.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
I'm guessing the app involves pinching then swiping.
Anybody want a peanut?
Could be they underestimated the reach of Bluetooth, or underestimated the cost of water for flushing.
Or perhaps you are overestimating both? Will the signal go 10 metres through concrete walls? Will flushing the toilet amount to any more than spare change in the long run? I honestly wouldn't know, I live in a part of the world where getting clean water isn't much of a problem.
c++;
How complicated does a toilet need to be?
This is Japan we're talking about. A toilet requires a 38-button control panel with a liquid-crystal display. I wish I was joking...
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
...what kind of a society do we live in when not even our "IP" address is safe??? Time to re-check my chlorine-bleach-based firewall; you never know what nefarious trouble is in the pipeline.
Oh God - stack overflow!
Can't stop the Beta? Time to evacuate to ##altslashdot at webchat.freenode.net - Slashcott in effect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE0sddhCIdE
I certainly hope "Ready to Receive" is its default position, because I'd sure hate to run through the pre flight checklist whilst doing the happy toilet dance.
Either that or stop dropping phones in it.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Thousands of people in Japan are getting hot water sprayed up their asses right now.
Do they consider that desirable or undesirable? Japanese culture has always been a bit difficult for me to understand.
A toilet requires a 38-button control panel with a liquid-crystal display. I wish I was joking...
I especially like the large buttons with the butt wash and butt dry symbols. For once those kind of symbols seem intelligible. Very accommodating to foreign travelers too. If I encountered one of these in a public restroom in Japan I might be able to figure out basic operations despite being unable to read Japanese. I wonder what the display looks like when it issues the warning "Overload imminent - gaijin buttocks detected".
Setting the thermostat seems good. Went on a trip and forgot/didn't bother to turn heat off?, you can do it. Coming back home in the freezing winter?, turn it on some hours before you get back home or even have something like "I want 19C by 8:00 PM" and the computerized system figures out how to make it happen cheapest.
At the least I'd like to be able to know how much my stuff is consuming electricity (global wattage, fridge, water heater..) and figure out if anything is not working properly (such as the fridge eating too much) and be able to fucking read it from my desktop. With daily, weekly, monthly ect power usage charts. Computer security is a big problem with stuff like that, sure.
Funnily the crapper maybe can be networked so it reports a leak! It doesn't need two-way communication though, just send a signal to the central computer.
Well, since it's a Japanese toilet, probably a lot -- Wikipedia listed some of the *basic* features:
While the toilet looks like a Western-style toilet at first glance, there are numerous additional features—such as blow dryer, seat heating, massage options, water jet adjustments, automatic lid opening, automatic flushing, wireless control panel, room heating and air conditioning for the room—included either as part of the toilet or in the seat. These features can be accessed by an (often wireless) control panel attached to the seat or mounted on a nearby wall.
Now mostly at Usenet:comp.misc & SoylentNews.org (it's made of people!)
A lot of them feel the same way about toilet paper... AFAIK the jets of water do an excellent job on their own without the person touching themselves, so the people used to them feel that using TP results in getting our hands filthy with germs and the urine/feces being smeared around & left behind in a thin hopefully-undetectable layer.
Now mostly at Usenet:comp.misc & SoylentNews.org (it's made of people!)
The threat on these, really, does exist. In certain situation susceptibility to traffic analysis is a security risk. For instance, in a home invasion, assuming that one washing after going to the toilet, it might provide an interval of venerability.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
people here are very resource-concious after the quake and tsunami. we also have toilets with built-in bidet that have many settings (water temperature, spray strength, pattern, location, toilet seat temperature, etc). my toilet has a small control panel on the wall, most have them built into the seat (captain picard's captain seat, style). this is likely to program the toilet, but i would imagine it also offers water use stats. i heard that it is approximately 100 yen per flush for most people, but of course that depends on your utility, toilet, regular or big flush, and other factors. i can configure my toilet easily enough, but tracking my flushes (and friends', girlfriend's) would be a pain.
for the record, i and others track our energy/water/gas usage to better understand our habits and be more resource-efficient (though for me, really just to save money).
it's basically an upgraded version of traditional Chinese physicians smelling the emperor's feces as a diagnostic tool
chemical assays of one's urine and feces can test for many health concerns, monitor your diet, and if your medicines need to have their doses adjusted
you'd sit on your toilet in the morning, and then get a message from your doctor saying there's elevated levels of marker in your urine and he wants you to come in the office to check something out
that's the utopian vision anyways
for the dystopian vision, check out all the other comments here
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
but does it run linux?
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
It seems you're a little constrained down there, do you need any help with that?
What do you do if a bird craps on your head?
1) Wash your hair
2) Smear the shit around with piece of paper