Millions of smart toothbrushes used in botnet attack on company

I’m honestly slightly impressed by the creativity.

Whenever I hear about internet toothbrushes, I think of this awesome bit from Rhod Gilbert: https://youtu.be/V39qPwKpcGg?si=hMhWX4hdaC0_BWvn

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Imagine HP getting ahold of this tech…
“We’re sorry, you toothpaste tube’s load of “foul cheese” flavor has reached its use-by date. You cannot brush with this device until you refill it with genuine HP BRAND STINKY CHEESE toothpaste.”

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its just the description;

@pesco ; did you actually paid 5 bucks for this?!? I truly hope not…

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my electric toothbrush lives on its charging stand, This prevents it from spontaneously turning on at random intervals. I suppose I will have to replace it if I need to travel by air.

Maybe it was damaged when it fell off the counter. In any case, the idea of a fragile device that misbehaves has put me off the idea of an even more fragile device that can also misbehave on the Internet.

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A plaque on all your houses!

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You’d have been able to use it for cyber attacks on large corporations, silly. It’d have paid for itself!

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I know you’re joking but…

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Claim:

https://archive.is/2024.01.30-203406/https://www.luzernerzeitung.ch/wirtschaft/kriminalitaet-die-zahnbuersten-greifen-an-das-sind-die-aktuellen-cybergefahren-und-so-koennen-sie-sich-schuetzen-ld.2569480

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devicesjava

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But sadly, it is the cyberpunk dystopia we deserve.

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Thankfully Oracle also make toothpaste to go with their Java-enabled toothbrushes. Not sure if they have a coffee flavour though.

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The Aargauer Zeitung Ran the exact same article
https://archive.ph/yzAg7

which does say
Das Beispiel, das wie ein Hollywood-Szenario daherkommt, hat sich wirklich so zugetragen.
IOW it claims this actually happened.
[Gallic shrug]

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Uhm, that source he says made it up as a hypothetical example says it happened, though. It’s light on details, so it seems it’s an anecdotal example provided by the security researcher they interviewed, but they do claim it happened.

Das Beispiel, das wie ein Hollywood-Szenario daherkommt, hat sich wirklich so zugetragen

So not quite

It’s simply a made up example. It doesn’t exist.

ETA: @FGD135


ETA2: This comment on the original toot (really, that’s what it’s called on mastodon?) is probably closest to the truth, as anyone will know who has ever played the game of Chinese whispers that’s talking to a journalist

This news article claims this happened, but my guess is that what actually happened is this:

Journalists talks with guy from fortinet, fortinet guy explains how a bot net of 3 million devices took down a Swiss companies site, Journalists asks what devices, fortinet guy talks about different things (like smart home devices / iot) and mentions that even a smart toothbrush could be part of such a bot net.

And the rest is history.

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Does that have an onerous licensing model which charges you per tooth, and additional money if you have a bridge, dentures or other dental adjuncts?

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Looks like I have an old comment that fits this situation perfectly.

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Smart appliances are a stupid idea.

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That sounds like a setup for a modern take on the Diogenes/“Plato’s man” incident with the featherless biped.

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If you need to connect your toothbrush to the internet, you are doing it wrong.

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What if a dental coverage plan offered you a large discount if they can have your brushing data?

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