Yahoo Finance This robotic vacuum's camera could let hackers spy on you
Be careful: Hackers might be watching through your vacuum.
Well, they could if you own the Diqee Camera Robotic Vacuum Cleaner, which is made and sold in China. It touts features like an HD 360-degree camera, night vision, and anti-collision sound wave technology.
While that's helpful for keeping your house clean, cybersecurity firm Positive Technologies claims the the internet-connected device has two major vulnerabilities.
SEE ALSO: Domestic robots that will change the future of how you run your house
First, hackers can gain access to the vacuum remotely and move the device, which is creepy enough. But they can also access the camera to watch you in your home. Yeah, that helpful surveillance feature doesn't sound so alluring now.
On top of that, a cybersecurity expert told ThreatPost that the device could be used "in a botnet for DDoS attacks or for bitcoin mining."
That's some dirty work for a cleaning device.
The second security problem involves physically hacking into the device. While more unlikely, it could allow anyone who can get their hands on the smart vacuum to access other private information through the WiFi network. Basically, they could suck up your private data instead of dust and dirt.
We reached out to Diqee for comment and will update the story if we hear back.
For now, maybe stop using the device — but if you really need to clean, mind what you're doing in front of the vacuum.
UPDATE: July 20, 2018, 10:07 a.m. PDT A Diqee spokesperson responded to the reported hacking vulnerabilities. They listed various reasons why the device is secure, including the ability to change the username and password from the default settings and an update to the SD card problem.
As to hacking into video streaming, the vacuum maker said the transmission process is encrypted and "it is very difficult to crack the packet."
WATCH: This dexterous humanoid has robot fingers that almost perfectly mimic human hands
