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Burglars Can Easily Make Google Nest Security Cameras Stop Recording (helpnetsecurity.com)

Orome1 quotes a report from Help Net Security: Google Nest's Dropcam, Dropcam Pro, Nest Cam Outdoor and Nest Cam Indoor security cameras can be easily disabled by an attacker that's in their Bluetooth range. The vulnerabilities are present in the latest firmware version running on the devices (v5.2.1). They were discovered by researcher Jason Doyle last fall, and their existence responsibly disclosed to Google, but have still not been patched. The first two flaws can be triggered and lead to a buffer overflow condition if the attacker sends to the camera a too-long Wi-Fi SSID parameter or a long encrypted password parameter, respectively. Triggering one of these flaws will make the devices crash and reboot. The third flaw is a bit more serious, as it allows the attacker to force the camera to temporarily disconnect from the wireless network to which it is connected by supplying it a new SSID to connect to. If that particular SSID does not exist, the camera drops its attempt to associate with it and return to the original Wi-Fi network, but the whole process can last from 60 to 90 seconds, during which the camera won't be recording. Nest has apparently already prepared a patch but hasn't pushed it out yet. (It should be rolling out "in the coming days.")

16 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. By smashing them by WolfgangVL · · Score: 4, Insightful

    with the same blunt instrument they used to break in your windows/doors.

    --
    You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
    1. Re: By smashing them by slazzy · · Score: 2

      Or covering their faces -makes them pretty much pointless. Personally I hide all my cameras quite well so they're not noticeable. I've caught some copulation in my side yard, no breakins however.

      --
      Website Just Down For Me? Find out
    2. Re: By smashing them by davester666 · · Score: 2

      or you can just overload/jam the wifi network, or have a router that broadcasts with a more powerful signal, or cut the cable/telephone lines going into the building...

      Using Wireless devices for home security is...stupid. You at least have to run a wire to avoid the most basic attack, loss of a network connection.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  2. Impressive work. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Aside from the egregious delay in fixing these things; does anyone else get a very, very, bad feeling about the expected quality of the firmware when 'supply a string longer than a normal user would type' is a successful attack?

    If you aren't sanitizing your inputs against that one; what are you sanitizing?

    1. Re:Impressive work. by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 2

      Modern software is a joke. I'll bet that code to accept that input in the first place runs into the megabytes.

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
  3. Nothing to worry about by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Informative

    Judging from footage, burglars seem to fall into two categories: the amateur criminals of opportunity who simply smash a window and make off with whatever they can get, or fail comically. And the more professional burglars who take a few very simple precautions, come in wearing hoodies and gloves, and leave in minutes. They are professional in the sense that they know how to enter a home quickly without making too much noise, spot homes where the owners are absent and the take is likely to be high, and know which valuables to grab and where they are usually "hidden". But they certainly do not employ any sophisticated methods to bypass alarms or defeat security cameras. They simply skip homes with alarms or ignore their presence depending on how long they are expecting to hang around, and make sure they cannot be recognized with the aforementioned hoodies.

    And over here, most burglars don't give a rat's arse about being caught: sentences are low, there's little additional punishment for repeat offenders (the other day they caught a burglar with 33 prior convictions, think he's going to reform much?), and if the police actually do turn up the heat a bit too much for comfort, one simply relocates to the next EU country.

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    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    1. Re:Nothing to worry about by youngone · · Score: 2
      I think that must be common. I don't live in the US but we have the same attitude from the Police, from what I gather.

      Fun fact: Years ands years ago my flatmate (room mate) caught a burglar climbing in our window. He beat the guy so badly the Police had to take him to hospital for treatment before charging him.

      The burglar yelled about having my flatmate charged with assault, so the cops threatened to charge with every burglary in our area that month. Turns out there were more than 150, they had solved none of them.

      My flatmate was not too worried about being charged with anything, his Father was a QC (extremely senior lawyer) there was no way he was winding up in court.

    2. Re:Nothing to worry about by timholman · · Score: 2

      It seems to be the same in the the USA (Arizona at least). The police seem to view burglary as an unavoidable fact of life, and burglars seem to never get caught and even if they are, hardly prosecuted (presumably because most of them are actually druggies that just need to steal something to sell, in order to get their next fix).

      It's the same in every medium to large city in the entire U.S. Past a certain population size, the police cease to treat property crime as a crime anymore. Burglars have broken into homes in my neighborhood and taken thousands of dollars worth of items, and the police only show up long enough to give the homeowner a report to file with his insurance company. Your stuff is gone, and you'll never see it again. There are well-known serial burglars (generally vagrants and druggies) wandering around my neighborhood who have been arrested dozens of times, and residents are helpless to stop them. Their descriptions and names are common knowledge - nothing is done. They know that as long as they don't assault a resident or use a weapon, they are untouchable. It is a constant source of frustrated discussion on the neighborhood Nextdoor site.

      But the problem with tolerating property crime as part of the "cost of living" is that occasionally it leads to something far worse. Case in point: about three weeks ago, a woman living in a recently gentrified neighborhood was stabbed to death by a homeless guy when she woke up to find him burglarizing her condo (she had forgotten to lock her door). Security footage showed the guy looking for unlocked car doors along the street, and then trying out doors in the condo complex. A police precinct station was less than half a mile away, but it might as well have been 50 miles away as far as police patrols were concerned.

    3. Re:Nothing to worry about by JustNiz · · Score: 2

      Yeah. If you live in a state that hasn't already taken your 2nd amendment rights away, Its definitely worth being properly prepared (both informed and equipped) to handle such incidents.
      The reality is that you may only have seconds to defend yourself. Expecting the Police to always be there to defend you is naive at best.

    4. Re:Nothing to worry about by pnutjam · · Score: 2

      Sure, welfare spending is the problem, not rampant corruption.

    5. Re:Nothing to worry about by JustNiz · · Score: 2

      At least here in AZ there are already plenty of methadone clinics and other free (paid for by the government) programs for drug users trying to get clean.

      I suspect the real problem is that most of them have zero self-control and/or don't actually want to change.
       

    6. Re:Nothing to worry about by pnutjam · · Score: 2

      I know I shouldn't feed trolls, but having someone yell insults from the short bus is irritating. I can understand that without the brainpower to metephorically turn on an LED, it might seem like South Africa is a failed socialist state, especially if you rabidly consume the alt-right dogma.
      However, it might be that there is more to the story.
      A history of colonialism, apartheid, restricted access to education and all the other shit that South Africa has dealt with... This makes for a poorly prepared electorate and tends to allow dysfunction and corruption.
      But I guess that doesn't play as well to your base.

  4. Re:Smart Burglars by Baron_Yam · · Score: 3, Interesting

    But if you could package this attack into a smartphone app and sell it to a burglar... they wouldn't have to be all that bright, would they?

    You know the first way an experienced burglar used to check a house prior to encrypted radio being common? They broke in the back door then left to listen to their scanner for alarm company or police dispatch radio traffic.

    If somebody else packages up the tools, they're quite capable of using them.

  5. Wireless by silas_moeckel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Because a burglar would never use a cheap RF jammer they can get for 50 bucks. If your security relies on wireless continuing to function it's broken by design.

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    No sir I dont like it.
  6. Re:Smart Burglars by Baron_Yam · · Score: 2

    That's mostly movie stuff, and most of that cabling is underground (at least any place I've seen built in the last 40 years or so).

    I suppose you could go all Hollywood and get a fake maintenance vans and uniforms and disconnect the house from the local nodes... (you know, after learning how to trace the lines or figuring out the local telco/cable company labeling system) but these days you have to do phone, cable, power, plus jam wireless signals.

    Nobody's doing that for what they'd score from the average home. Simple smash-and-grab is where it's at. The real thieves are con artists who convince you to hand over your money willingly.

  7. Slow News Day? by brian.stinar · · Score: 2

    So what?

    The crackhead that burgled one of my tenants did it with a vice grips after leaving their window open an a Macbook visible from the window. The bars weren't attached with security bolts (one way) but rather regular bolts (two ways.) That burglar didn't even bother bring a ratchet to make removing the bolts happen quicker. Do you think he's going to be able to make security cameras stop responding with his in-depth knowledge of the BlueTooth protocol and years of experience working cyber security at a National Laboratory? I don't. The other time my tenant was burgled they left a bicycle locked to a wooden structure, which was ripped apart with a chain tied to a truck. The other other time a different (not the same) tenant was burgled they left a GPS, binoculars, and some other valuable thing visible in their car. That burglar used a cinder block.

    Don't leave your valuables visible when you're not around to back them up with your 2nd amendment rights.

    Seriously, this entire posting is retarded. Try and keep a shotgun handy (no aiming!) a big dog, and friends/tenants/roommates around to keep the diversity of the city outside your domicile. Nest security cameras aren't going to do anything against the nondescript minority/white guy in a hoodie that's ready to throw the dice and jack your shit with a brick.

    This is why Albuquerque can't have nice things, and Breaking Bad was filmed here.