Is Sharp's Robot Vacuum Cleaner Vulnerable To Remote Take-over? (jvn.jp)

Slashdot reader AmiMoJo reports: Sharp's COCOROBO (heart-bot) vacuum cleaners can not just clean your house. They have cameras that can be viewed from a smart phone, and automatically take pictures of things they find under your sofa. They have microphones and voice recognition, and are able to ask how your day was when you get home from work. You can even activate their speakers and talk to your pets from the office. Unfortunately, so can anyone else if you don't install critical firmware updates.
JPCERT's warning says that the attacker must be on the same LAN to impersonate you, though "as a result, there is a possibility that an arbitrary operation may be conducted."

Comments

What idiot thought these were good ideas.

[gurps_npc]

They are vacuum cleaners. They do not need MICROPHONES. If you can't bother to control it via an App, then connect up Amazon's Alexis and let Alexis convert your voice into vacuum cleaner commands.

Same thing for cameras. What moron thinks that letting your vaccuum cleaner take pictures in your home is a good idea>

As for me, I don't trust Amazon with a mike in my home, let alone some random vacuum company maker.