Friday, November 2, 2018

Hate your neighbor? Does he have Google Home?

Of course, you'd never mess with him like this:
A security researcher says an undocumented API in the Google Home Hub assistant can be exploited to kick the gizmo off its own wireless network. 
Flaw finder Jerry Gamblin says the API allows the device to receive commands from systems and handhelds sharing its local wireless network that can, among other things, reboot the unit, or even cause it to disconnect from the Wi-Fi, necessitating a manual reconfiguration.
In layman's terms, and API is a way for a computer to connect to another computer and configure stuff.  "Undocumented" APIs are considered double plus ungood in the security world, for obvious reasons.  You'd think that Google wouldn't want to give us another reason to be suspicious of them ...

Of course, you'd never do anything like this because you only use your Powers for good.

1 comment:

Ken said...

I wouldn't. Nor would I ever have Google Home. I like analog door locks and deadbolts, and Honeywell analog thermostats too. Technology is for other stuff, not for pretending I live on the USS Enterprise. I have to do that inside my own head. :-)