Hackers Take Over Robotic Vacuums To Chase Pets and Yell Slurs



Hackers managed to gain access to Ecovacs' Deebot X2 Omni robotic vacuums across the country and used them to chase pets and yell slurs at their owners. Minnesota attorney Daniel Swenson said he was watching television with his family when a noise started coming from the robotic vacuum’s speaker. He said after he reset his password and rebooted the vacuum, it began again — this time with a teenager’s voice yelling slurs at him. Other vacuum owners in El Paso and Los Angeles reported that their robotic vacuums yelled at and chased their pets, terrorizing them. Ecovacs identified the IP address it was coming from and blocked it. The company said it found no evidence that usernames and passwords were collected by the hackers.