Don't Hack Computers, Hack the Satis Toilet Instead

Hacking a computer is the past. Welcome to the future, where hackers can take control of Bluetooth enabled toilets.

Cyber security firm Trustwave sent out an advisory last Thursday explaining how to hack a Satis automatic toilet. The high-tech toilet can play music and even spray deodorant in the stall in addition to doing the normal function. The toilet comes with the My Satis Android application that allows you to control the toilet. “Attackers could cause the unit to unexpectedly open/close the lid, activate bidet or air-dry functions, causing discomfort or distress to user,” the advisory says.

Also, the attacker could continually flush the toilet, driving the owner's water bill up the wall.

The security issue is that the My Satis app uses the Bluetooth pin of 0000 to connect to the toilet as seen in its code:

BluetoothDevice localBluetoothDevice =

BluetoothManager.getInstance().execPairing(paramString, “0000″)

 

Will Smidlein: Internet Famous in Under 2 Hours

Web developer Will Smidlein managed to bypass the six-second upload limit on Vine today, inserting the entirety of Rick Astley's immortal "Never Gonna Give You Up" into a post that was ultimately taken down by Twitter. Smidlein thought he had "broken Vine", as said in an earlier tweet. He had also tweeted that Twitter engineers had requested that he delete the post.

This long post happened on the same day that Vine became available to Android. Smidlein has been very tight-lipped about the situation, but has said that he will release the full story once the hole has been filled. It is estimated that Vine has 13 million users.

Smidlein has also been very mature about recovering from the situation. It appeared that his site had crashed for several minues, and had gained several hundred followers on Twitter. He also published a response to his Vine incursion on Throwww earlier this evening. The response to the event has been crazy on Twitter. He said in a tweet that he got so many "@ mentions", that his Google Glass just made one solid buzzing noise.

Overall, Will Smidlein has been the "Internet celebrity of the Evening", and has gotten attention from most of the major technology news organizations out there. Smidlein will be going for an internship at Pocket this summer in the Valley, and I'm curious if he'll get any job offers. Congrats again Will!

 

Below are some interesting tweets from Will:

Well, TechCrunch never asked me. I didn't use a jailbroken device at all. No idea where they got that.Shame they call themselves "news".

— Will Smidlein (@ws) June 3, 2013

 

Sorry, Twitter/Vine engineers. I tried to keep it quiet, but the internet never forgets. — Will Smidlein (@ws) June 3, 2013

 

So my Vine has gone semi-viral.The one that Twitter engineering asked me to take down.Fannntastic.

— Will Smidlein (@ws) June 3, 2013

The SkyHelp Team Hacked By SEA

Next up in line for hacking by the Syrian Electronic Army: British Broadcaster Sky News. Tonight, all of its Android apps were hacked and replaced. Also, the hackers changed the broadcaster's Google Play developer page to show the SEA's logo. As of 10:18am EST, all of Sky's apps have been removed from the Play store and the developer's page is down.



 

The Sky Team is actively aware of the hack, and is working to fix the mess caused by it. If you have any of the hacked Android apps installed on your phone, please uninstall them.
— Sky Help Team (@SkyHelpTeam) May 26, 2013

Has The Onion Been Hacked by The Syrian Electronic Army?

Apparently, The Onion is next on the hack list for the Syrian Electronic Army. After hacking many other large international publishing companies, it appears that The Onion has been hacked by this group. It is unclear whether this hack is legitimate or not, because The Onion is a satirical news site.

In addition to The Onion, an Associated Press hack had the stock market take a little dip just a few days ago.

Twitter is claiming to be creating a two-step verification system for login. But for now, we are stuck with just regular passwords.

As The Onion always adds satire into news events, they have apparently changed their Twitter password to "OnionMan77", just to make their Twitter account "impenetrable".

Below is a screenshot of the tweets from the apparent SEA hack.