Your washing machine could be sending 3.7 GB of data a day — LG washing machine owner disconnected his device from Wi-Fi after noticing excessive outgoing daily data traffic
Your washing machine could be sending 3.7 GB of data a day — LG washing machine owner disconnected his device from Wi-Fi after noticing excessive outgoing daily data traffic
The owner was puzzled why a clothes washer would need so much data.
This sounds like some kind of DDOS attack like the ones that involved connected light bulbs. Malware gets into the light bulb or washing machine and repurposes the infected device to flood targeted servers:
Obligatory meme wisdom:
https://biggaybunny.tumblr.com/post/166787080920/tech-enthusiasts-everything-in-my-house-is-wired
I don't understand the craze of slapping wifi or bluetooth connectivity to everything without giving proper thought. Cameras, television, vehicles, coffee pots, medical devices, laundry machines, hipster juicers... what's next? Is my salt shaker going to have it?
I've been looking for a breast pump recently - I'd like electric so I don't have to manually pump. All of the ones I could find in the shop required an app to connect to the device. Why? What purpose does that serve me? I'd have to make an account, accept needless permissions and cookies and give them access to very personal data about my boobs and milk production - I went with a manual one instead
It's possible that it had some vulnerability which was automatically exploited by one of her majesty's secret services (perhaps with help from their US counterparts) to make it a component of their covert infrastructure.
Do not buy BS internet connected devices period. There was a time when internet connected devices did exactly they were supposed to do and nothing more. There is literally no reason why most of these devices can't act as their own server and keep your data local and private. Corporations have become far too greedy to trust their cloud won't sell you out in every way it can. The ONLY two reasons a manufacturer adds internet connectivity are:
-
To monitor and collect as much data as possible and/or:
-
To implement a subscription service for something that normally wouldn't require monthly payments.
Corporate closed clouds have proven time and time again that they can't be trusted.
-
For now, it looks like the favored answer to the data mystery is to blame Asus for misreporting it. We may never know what happened with Johnie, who is now running his LG washing machine offline.
Another relatively innocent reason for the supposed high volume of uploads could be an error in the Asus router firmware. In a follow-up post a day after his initial Tweet, Johnie noted “inaccuracy in the ASUS router tool.” Other LG smart washing machine users showed device data use from their apps. It turns out that these appliances more typically use less than 1MB per day.
It only would be a big problem if household devices like washing machines are built in a way that makes a connection to the internet mandatory in order to function properly. Imagine you can't do your laundry because of an internet outage.
Name any household device (washing machine, dishwasher, dryer, toaster, water kettle, iron, coffee maker, (microwave) oven, ...) that has been improved in functionality by connecting it to the internet, making it a internet-of-things-device. I can't think of any.
We have a washing machine that cannot be connected to the internet. After starting the program, we set up a timer on our smartphone, 15 minutes longer than the time the washing machine display is predicting. Works like a charm.
It’s an older meme sir, but it checks out.
You mean 3.7kg of load right?
Right? ...
woohoo high tech everything is the best
Which software did he used to monitor the data usages?
Edit: nvm, looks like it's priority one from Asus
I happen to work in Home Automation.. This is likely wrong, and I agree its probably dodgy router
Customers with a moderate amount of tech logging are sometimes our biggest bane. In this case, there's no information of what the washing machine is connected to. And no packet dumps.. Yes its asus too, so don't trust their routers at all (they aren't known for making good routers).
And then, we also constantly have customers picking out every single thing on their router too who think their information is being stolen or whatever because a service its connecting to sounds technical.
Then we also have the ones who get their info from places like Toms hardware, such as with CCTV, which "confirms" china is watching their lawn grow or whatever. Never any actual packet dumps, traces or anything else though.
Honestly, when you see an article like this, the first thing you need to ask is for packet dumps and such.
In practice, just don't forward your devices online using port forwarding, and use a strong password, good devices, and you're fine.
Bob! Is it still spinning?..... yeah Fred! Hold on I think this cycle is almost over....get ready folks! A few more seconds and the bets will close!
3, 2, 1!!!!!! And the winner is.....! Drum roll please!
Green tipped socks!!!!
Meanwhile at the Vegas Casino..... I got it! Look! I got the bonus roll! All green tipped socks!
