EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

As if it weren’t enough to stay vigilant to phishing scams, data breaches, and other cyber threats that could take down business or nation, now we have a new worry: the possibility of our home internet-connected devices going rogue and turning against us.

According to Kevin Haley of Norton Security, attackers try to break into home networks five times a day. When you think of smart devices that are controlled by apps that integrate with other devices, the attack surface seems to grow exponentially. All of this reinforces the urgency behind researchers finding vulnerabilities before hackers do.

Recently, researchers from Check Point discovered a bug in the LG SmartThinQ platform. Prior to the discovery, the flaw could have allowed things like dishwashers and vacuum cleaners to become vehicles for spying and even accessing sensitive data. “We were able to hack into other accounts on the SmartThinQ cloud service and essentially control the home devices, in particular the vacuum cleaners, and access the video camera on the vacuum cleaners,” explained Check Point’s Peter Alexander.

Immediately following the discovery, Check Point alerted LG so it would be able to fix the problem before it became common knowledge. “LG said it started working with the researchers in August after they brought it to their attention and developed a software patch at the end of September,” reported Ben Popken for NBC News.

Watch a quick demonstration of the security issue and get the full story here.