ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

It must be among the worst fears of the smart toilet user - that hackers might take control of your lavatory from a remote location.

But this has already happened according to experts at a recent information security conference.

Smart toilets have become popular - in Japan in particular - for their range of intelligent functions that can be controlled via smartphone apps. Basic actions such as flushing, using the bidet and warming the seat can all be carried out via the user's phone.

However it was revealed at a Hong Kong security conference that pranksters have managed to bypass the password system of a Panasonic smart toilet in Japan. According to the company's head of product security Hikohiro Lin the high-tech toilet was protected by only a basic password. "Whenever someone uses the toilet, hackers could control everything," he said.

No further problems were reported following the hack but if they had wished to, the culprits could have performed actions such as flushing the toilet at awkward moments or activating the bidet function unexpectedly.

Security experts have warned about the possibility of a toilet 'hack' for years. IT security firm Trustwave expressed a similar fear in 2013 about the Satis toilet - a high-end model that can also be operated remotely.

By using an android My Satis app over a Bluetooth connection users can raise and lower the lid, operate the bidet function and flush the toilet. However the PIN for the Bluetooth app is set at 0000 and can therefore be used by anyone - even remotely.