Netatmo Smart Indoor Security Camera Patched After Security Issue Found

Following an investigation by PCMag and Bitdefender, a patch has been issued for the Netatmo Smart Indoor Security Camera.

The Bitdefender IoT Vulnerability Research Team discovered that the device is susceptible to an authenticated file write that leads to command execution (CVE-2019-17101), as well as to a privilege escalation via dirtyc0w—a local privilege escalation bug that exploits a race condition in the implementation of the copy-on-write mechanism in the kernel’s memory-management subsystem.

Many smart home devices are notoriously insecure, and this is the main reason why I don’t have any of them (Besides my robot vacuum, but I explained my reasoning).

iBaby Monitors Can be Exploited by Hackers

Parents using an iBaby Monitor M6S should be aware it has multiple security problems that open it up to hackers.

That means any ne’er-do-well can purchase an iBaby monitor and use it to access files from every iBaby monitor. Unbelievable? Believe it. For legal reasons, the Bitdefender researchers did not access data belonging to other real-world users. Instead, they set up a second test device and verified access.

Kelly Guimont Talks IoT and More on MacVoices

The Mac Observer’s Kelly Guimont, who you can hear regularly on TMO’s Daily Observations podcast, joined Chuck Joiner this week on MacVoices. Chuck quizzed her about Internet of Things, backup strategies, upgrading your tech gear, favorite iOS apps, and more. MacVoices is a video podcast, but there’s an audio version available, too. You can check out Chuck’s interview with Kelly at the MacVoices website, or on Apple’s iTunes Store as audio or video.

Police Turn to Amazon Echo in Homicide Showing How Smarthome Devices Can Spy on Us

Police in Bentonville, Arkansas, obtained a search warrant for the audio captured by an Amazon Echo as part of a homicide investigation, raising concerns over just how much smarthome devices know about us. In the case of the Echo, Amazon says little is being recorded and stored, but that’s not much of a consolation for IoT device owners who’re worried their tech might be used against them by the government.

Bluetooth 5: It's All About the Internet of Things

Get ready for Bluetooth 5 because the Bluetooth Special Interest Group officially ratified the specification for the wireless protocol this week. Bluetooth 5 promises twice the speed and four times the range compared to the current Bluetooth standard, and will start showing up in devices soon.