Household Robots Are the Next Thing to Get Hacked

Every new technology represents a chance for hackers. Now, two Argentinian security researchers are now planning on showing how domestic robots will be vulnerable to attacks.

Lucas Apa and Cesar Cerrudo, both of whom work at the security firm IOActive, have been sounding the alarm regarding robotic hacking for some time now. "If you are in the same network as the robot, then you can compromise it," Cerrudo told Motherboard in March. "I will have a robot at home and the office but I will unplug it at night and also when I'm not around I won't leave the robot alone—I won't trust it."

Now, the two are using the Hack in the Box security conference in Singapore to showcase what hacking could do to humanoid domestic robots known as the Alpha2 and NAO and larger, industrial robotic arms sold by Universal Robots. The duo says, with video proof, that they can turn adorable robots into violent entities quite easily.

Apa and Cerrudo found that the Alpha2, sold by the Chinese company UBTech, ran a version of Android that forgoes code-signing, a security measure that prevents the installation of rogue software. It also didn't encrypt its injections, allowing room for a malicious app to work its way inside. Similar errors were also found on the NAO, sold by the Japanese firm Softbank.

Beyond violent attacks, Apa and Cerrudo have found that the robots can also be subtle spies since the domestic robots come equipped with cameras and microphones.

While UBTech and Softbank have told Wired that their robots are safe, Apa and Cerrudo say that they have monitored updates on the robots robots and none of them address the serious safety issues they raise. "In a couple of years, these robots will be very tied into family life and business," Cerrudo tells Wired. "When they get hacked, there will be serious consequences."