19 January 2021

Looking forward to the "internet of things" ??

"The Internet of things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects—“things”—that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the Internet."
Be careful what you wish for:
In October of last year, security researchers found that the manufacturer of an Internet of Things chastity cage*—a sex toy that users put around their penis to prevent erections that is used in the BDSM community and can be unlocked remotely—had left an API exposed, giving malicious hackers a chance to take control of the devices. That's exactly what happened, according to a security researcher who obtained screenshots of conversations between the hacker and several victims, and according to victims interviewed by Motherboard.   

A victim who asked to be identified only as Robert said that he received a message from a hacker demanding a payment of 0.02 Bitcoin (around $750 today) to unlock the device. He realized his cage was definitely "locked," and he "could not gain access to it." 
More details at Vice.  Image from Amazon.  NSFW images at the chastity cage link.

2 comments:

  1. My engineer husband loves the idea of a smart house. I love technology but also common sense.... There is no good reason to hook a fridge or stove to the internet. Even at our house, which can do some cool tricks like tell Alexa to turn off a light, I'm often left with lights that I can't turn on (because my phone hasn't downloaded software updates for the smart house interface) when a switch would suffice. And our door locks and baby monitor are not connected to the internet for obvious reasons.
    One cool thing he did: linked a series of actions to a button for my kid's bedtime routine... the button turns off the lights by dimming in 5 min increments, turns on some soft music and a white noise machine. It's quite useful!

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  2. Do the devices cost more than $750? Why wouldn't you just take a pair of bolt cutters to it?

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