Science and Technology Desk: For quite some time now, various robot-powered vacuum cleaners used in the United States are facing cyber attacks. In this way, the attackers not only got control of the 'robevacs', but also had the opportunity to use their speakers to shout racial slurs and offensive comments at anyone nearby.

Vacuum cleaner

All the robots under attack are 'Ecovax Dbot X2S' model made in China. It has a reputation as a robovac that is easily hackable, with a security flaw playing an important role.

For example, US media outlet ABC News was able to take full control of a robot of the same model, including its camera.

Daniel Swenson, a lawyer for the victim of the attack this week in Minnesota, told ABC News he was watching TV when the robot started making strange noises 'like broken radio signals'.

And with its app, Swenson was able to confirm that an outsider had accessed its live camera feed and remote control features.

Later, he resets the password and reboots the vacuum, but only then does the real thing begin. It immediately started moving on its own again and human voices emanated from its speakers. The voice even continued to shout racist slurs in front of Swenson's child.

“I thought it might be the voice of a child or teenager. And they might just be going from device to device and having fun with different families,” said Swenson.

He added, the situation could have been worse. For example, the vacuum has been silently spying on his family for quite some time, something like that.

Swenson's device was hacked on May 24 this year. Another Debot X2S was spotted chasing a rooster in Los Angeles on the same day. The speaker of this vacuum was also shouting offensive comments. Five days later, a similar incident occurred in El Paso, Texas. It is not yet clear how many of the company's devices are victims of this cyber attack.

At the root of the problem is a security flaw, which allows various malicious systems to bypass the four-digit security pin to take complete control of the vacuum.

The problem was first noticed in December 2023. It also has a flaw in its Bluetooth connector, which allows it to be fully controlled from up to three hundred feet away. However, it is unlikely that a Bluetooth flaw was responsible for the cyber attack that took place across the United States.

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According to a report by technology site Gizmodo, the company has developed a 'patch' to fully remove the security flaw, which could be rolled out sometime in November.