The robot vacuum cleaners of the Chinese company "Ecovacs" have started shouting obscene expressions in the USA. It was caused by a hacking attack, reports ABC News.
Criminals have taken control of Ecovacs Deebot X2 robot vacuum cleaners in several US cities, controlling their movements and shouting insults through built-in speakers. Minnesota lawyer Daniel Swenson faced this problem when his robot began to behave strangely and shout racist expressions.
Similar incidents have been reported in a number of people in the US. In one case, the robot chased the owner's dog, and in another case, it cursed at night. Svensson filed a complaint with Ecovacs.
The company conducted an investigation and determined the IP address of the attacker, disabling it. Ecovacs said in an email that Swenson's account had been cyberattacked by a credential swap.
Cybersecurity researchers had previously alerted Ecovacs to a problem with the PIN code, which was only verified by the app, not by a server or robot.
Predstavitel Ecovacs said the flaw has now been fixed. The company also sent an email to customers asking them to change passwords and said it would release a security update for X2 series owners in November.
