You thought hackers were a royal pain in the butt before? Well, if you own a Satis digital toilet, you’re really going to dislike them now.
As more homes go ‘hi-tech’, household appliances and fixtures now digitally controlled using a laptop or smartphone can be controlled by a hacker. Now, coming home to find that some hacker has defrosted your fridge and freezer while you were at work is strange, but waking up to do your daily duty only to find out that the toilet’s bidet feature activates spontaneously, is really, really bad (or hilarious, depending who it happens to).
That’s right, according to the information security firm Trustwave, the Satis toilets made by Inax have a Bluetooth security vulnerability that allows an unauthorized user to control the toilet. Supposedly the Satis toilet can be controlled remotely through the My Satis app for Android over a Bluetooth connection. The PIN to pair the app with the toilet is hard-coded into the app as “0000”0000″, which makes it possible for anyone to pair the app on their phone with the toilet.
There is a limitation though. The person would have to be within range of the Satis toilet at some point in order to pair the device. In a consumer advisory, Trustwave warns: “An attacker could simply download the ‘My Satis’ application and use it to cause the toilet to repeatedly flush, raising the water usage, and therefore utility cost to its owner. Attackers could cause the unit to unexpectedly open/close the lid, or activate the bidet or air-dry functions, causing discomfort or distress to user.” Now, just how crappy is that?
