Xiaomi Smart Camera Streams Other People’s Feeds
The Xiaomi privacy issue was first reported by a user on Reddit, an open discussion forum. The Xiaomi Mijia camera owner was able to intermittently see random people’s homes when trying to stream content from his camera to a Google Nest hub. The user could see stills of unfamiliar living rooms, a man asleep on a chair and even an infant in a cradle. The clear stills also included timestamps.
Google Takes Immediate Action
A Google employee reacted to the feed almost immediately and took swift action: “We were made aware of an issue where a Reddit user posted that their Nest Hub was able to access other people’s Xiaomi camera feeds. We’ve been working with Xiaomi and we’re comfortable that the issue was limited to their camera technology platform.” While Google worked on the issue with Xiaomi, they made the decision to disable all Xiaomi integrations on their devices. “We will not reinstate camera functionality for Xiaomi devices until we are confident that the issue has been fully resolved.” Google has put strict requirements on which third party devices can be used with its hardware and services. The list includes two dozen security cameras.
Issue Fixed, but Could Have Impacted 1,044 Users
A spokesperson for Xiaomi confirmed that they had identified the problem and that the issue is now fixed. Apparently, the bug was caused by a recent update designed to improve camera streaming quality. Stills would pop up only if a user had the Mi Home Security Camera Basic 1080p in combination with the Google Hub and a display screen working under poor network conditions. Up to 1,044 users had this specific setup with only a few experiencing the same type of poor network connection. According to Xiaomi, the issue would not have happened if the camera was linked to Xiaomi’s Mi Home app. Google Play Protect had already temporarily blocked the Xiaomi app, Mi Quick Apps, in November, also following an update. The issue was later resolved.
IoT Devices Come with Security Warning
Although IoT devices are unstoppable and increasingly popular, they do come with a warning. It is certainly not the first time IoT Devices have been at the center of privacy and security issues. Recently, Wyze confirmed that one of its servers leaked and exposed the details of roughly 2.4 million customers. In another case, a hacker broke into a Ring camera in the bedroom of young girls, using weak password security. Just a few months ago, a hacker was even able to take over a couple’s Nest devices, raise the temperature in the house using their smart thermostat and blast vulgar music through their speakers.
