Get the latest tech news
It Looks Like a School Bathroom Smoke Detector. A Teen Hacker Showed It Could Be an Audio Bug
A pair of hackers found that a vape detector often found in high school bathrooms contained microphones—and security weaknesses that could allow someone to turn it into a secret listening device.
Now, after months of reverse engineering and security testing, Vasquez-Garcia and a fellow hacker he’s partnered with who goes by the pseudonym “Nyx,” have shown that it’s possible to hack one of those Halo 3C gadgets—which they’ve taken to calling by the nickname “snitch puck”—and take full control of it. Their physical teardown revealed the Halo 3C is essentially a Raspberry Pi micro computer with a bunch of sensors attached, including one for temperature or humidity, an accelerometer, and others for air quality that detect different gases. As sensors like the Halo 3C proliferate across schools and even homes, Vasquez-Garcia says the biggest takeaway from his and Nyx’s findings ought to be that putting microphones and internet connections into every device in our lives as simple as a smoke detector is a decision that carries real risk.
Or read this on Wired