Hackers Hijack Robot Vacuums To Broadcast Racial Slurs

Hackers have infiltrated robot vacuum cleaners in several US cities, exploiting security vulnerabilities in the Ecovacs Deebot X2s models. They have taken control of the devices to broadcast offensive content, including racial slurs, as reported on Saturday by Interesting Engineering (IE).

The total number of hacked robots is still unknown, but all affected devices were produced by Chinese manufacturer Ecovacs. The attacks follow a recent demonstration by ABC News, which revealed a major security flaw in the Deebot X2s by successfully hacking one.

These incidents, reported in areas like Minnesota, Los Angeles, and El Paso, involved hackers accessing the devices’ remote controls and live camera feeds. In one instance covered by IE, Daniel Swenson, a lawyer from Minnesota, noticed odd sounds coming from his vacuum while he was watching TV.

Thinking it was just a technical issue, Swenson changed his password and restarted the robot. But shortly after, the device started moving again, this time loudly broadcasting racial slurs.

IE noted that similar incidents were reported across the US around the same time. On May 24, the same day Swenson’s vacuum was compromised, a Deebot X2 in Los Angeles was remotely controlled to chase its owner’s dog while insulting comments played through its speakers.

In another case in El Paso, a robot began spewing racial slurs late at night until its owner unplugged it.

After Swenson reported the issue to the company, he had multiple exchanges with Ecovacs support. A senior employee contacted him, emphasizing the need for video proof of the incident, noted IE.

Later, Swenson received an email confirming that his account had been compromised, and the technical team had traced and blocked the hacker’s IP address, as reported by IE.