cross-posted from: https://lemmy.smeargle.fans/post/118264

Three million malware-infected smart toothbrushes used in Swiss DDoS attacks

HN Discussion

I learned of this thing's existence about a year ago when someone with this thing asked for help in reddit.

It's a ceiling lamp. With a bluetooth speaker. It's in constant pairing mode allowing anyone to connect whenever.

The person complained about hearing the neighbours' cooking instructions and that their teenager cranks the music to max volume while figuring out why there's no sound.

[archived reddit link in Finnish]

All the protections in software, what an amazing idea!

Some 5 years ago I used the toilet in a mall. Their urinals all had screens showing Android (4?) home screen. The screens were replaced with printed ads later.

Picture is from internet as I have lost mine since, but the product is same

I discovered the purpose of what looked like an NFC tag in my toothbrush heads. More expensive smart versions of my toothbrush log how many times the head is used, and start nagging about replacement after a while. Unlike with printer ink, it at least doesn't disable old toothbrush heads.

https://hackaday.com/2023/05/27/hacking-a-smart-electric-toothbrush-to-reset-its-usage-counter/