Advertisement

This connected vibrator's camera is disturbingly easy to hack

Anyone within WiFi range could peek into your intimate moments.

Svakom

While your microwave definitely isn't spying on you, it's always important to make informed choices about which connected devices you bring into your home. Case in point: the $249 Svakom Siime Eye, Wi-Fi-enabled vibrator -- which comes with a built-in camera for livestreaming and, according to security researchers at Pen Test Partners, an interface that can be easily hacked by anyone within WiFi range.

The "hack" is remarkably simple, Motherboard reports, because the smart dildo creates a Wi-Fi access point with the easily guessed default password of "88888888". Anyone picking up the signal can simply tune into the video stream, Pen Test founder Ken Munro explained, but with a little extra work researchers were able to access the device's web server, root the device and set it up for a remote connection. According to Munro, his team attempted to contact the company about the problem for months before making their findings public.

While the Siime Eye was most likely aimed at users who want to broadcast some intimate uses for the device, giving neighbors and anyone in Wi-Fi range easy access to its stream poses an obvious security and privacy risk. It's also not the first sex toy to compromise its users' personal information. Last month, Standard Innovation, makers of the We-Vibe line of connected vibrators, settled a class action lawsuit for violating users' privacy. As it turned out, We-Vibe toys were collecting and sending "highly intimate and sensitive data" back to the company's servers without the user's permission.