ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

An electronics enthusiast was shocked to discover that his robot vacuum cleaner had been creating a 3D map of his home - and sending the data back to the manufacturer.

India-based Harishankar Narayanan automatically monitors the network traffic generated by any new smart device and within minutes of initiating the checks on his vacuum, he discovered that a steady stream of data was being sent to servers overseas.

"My robot vacuum was constantly communicating with its manufacturer, transmitting logs and telemetry that I had never consented to share," said Narayanan. "So I decided to stop it."

Using his electronics knowledge, he managed to prevent the device from broadcasting data. But after a few days it refused to boot up.

More curious than ever, Narayanan took the machine apart and reverse-engineered it by reprinting the devices' circuit boards. He then discovered that the device was running an open-source programme designed to create a 3D map of his home and transmitting the data back to its parent company.

And Narayanan also uncovered a suspicious line of code broadcasted from the company to the vacuum which was timestamped to the exact moment it stopped working. "Someone, or something, had remotely issued a kill command," he said.

"Whether it was intentional punishment or automated enforcement of ‘compliance,' the result was the same: a consumer device had turned on its owner."

He now warns that dozens of smart vacuums are likely to be operating similar systems. "Our homes are filled with cameras, microphones and mobile sensors connected to companies we barely know, all capable of being weaponised with a single line of code," he said.