Walmart router, others on Amazon, eBay have hidden backdoors to control devices

Re:Walmart router, others on Amazon, eBay have hidden backdo... by ffpip on Monday November 23, 2020 @10:46PM (#25195072)

TV's and smart speakers connect to any open network. Alexa connected to my neighbour's wifi network.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Walmart router, others on Amazon, eBay have hidden backdo... by Silhouette on Monday November 23, 2020 @11:16PM (#25195222)

Alexa connected to my neighbour's wifi network.

Is that legal where you are, assuming your neighbour has not granted permission to do it?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Walmart router, others on Amazon, eBay have hidden backdo... by Reelin on Tuesday November 24, 2020 @04:25AM (#25196755)

In the US I'm pretty sure it's legal at the federal level because the network is actively advertising itself by broadcasting the SSID and no user name or password is required when connecting.

AFAIK, violating the CFAA would involve actively circumventing a mechanism intended to restrict access.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Walmart router, others on Amazon, eBay have hidden backdo... by numpad0 on Tuesday November 24, 2020 @12:52AM (#25195701)

Depends, and either way you’re being held responsible for the manufacturer’s decision.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Walmart router, others on Amazon, eBay have hidden backdo... by ffpip on Tuesday November 24, 2020 @12:42AM (#25195653)

I don't know . But I've unplugged the Alexa Echo and put it inside my cupboard long ago.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Walmart router, others on Amazon, eBay have hidden backdo... by skinny_p on Monday November 23, 2020 @11:58PM (#25195411)

The only way to stop wifi on my Samsung TV was to plug in ethernet and block all traffic from it on my firewall. Extremely annoying that there is no setting to disable it.

[ Parent | on HN ]