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Billions of Records Leaked by Smart Home Vendor

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday July 02 2019, @01:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the no-salt-added dept.

RandomFactor writes:

BleepingComputer reports that Chinese smart home vendor Orvibo has an unsecured database online that exposes over 2 billion logs detailing usernames, email address, passwords and more.

The disclosing research firm's report is available here.

vpnMentor's research team reached out to the vendor on June 16th, but did not receive a response and as of publication the database is apparently still online and the amount of data exposed is still increasing.

Exposed data includes:

  • Email addresses
  • Passwords
  • Account reset codes
  • Precise user geolocation
  • IP addresses
  • Username & UserID
  • Family name & Family ID
  • Device name & Device that accessed account
  • Recorded conversations through Smart Camera
  • Scheduling information

Passwords are hashed but without adding a salt, making them relatively easy to crack.

Possibilities for hackers are myriad, including completely locking users out of their own accounts and taking complete control of smart homes, accessing video feeds, unlocking doors and more.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 02 2019, @02:21PM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 02 2019, @02:21PM (#862391)

    We don't need more legislation. [securityweek.com] Just sue them [thomsonreuters.com] until data breeches stop.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 02 2019, @02:29PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 02 2019, @02:29PM (#862397)

    Nice idea, but if I'm in USA and I sue a Chinese company I don't think there is any chance I'll ever see any kind of settlement. Thus, no lawyer will take this case on speculation?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 02 2019, @04:25PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 02 2019, @04:25PM (#862438)

      Of course you sue the American reseller of the Chinese crap.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 02 2019, @04:45PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 02 2019, @04:45PM (#862448)

        Nah, I'm too clever for that, I buy through eBay (or AliExpress etc), direct from a Chinese dealer.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 02 2019, @05:08PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 02 2019, @05:08PM (#862456)

          How much did you save buying direct? Don't forget to add in the cost of losing your right to seek redress and your privacy.

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday July 02 2019, @10:59PM

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday July 02 2019, @10:59PM (#862566)

      ...but if I'm in USA and I sue a Chinese company...

      If you're in the US and you sue an American company that happens to be rich and determined, what chance do you think you will have to prevail?

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by TheRaven on Tuesday July 02 2019, @03:48PM (1 child)

    by TheRaven (270) on Tuesday July 02 2019, @03:48PM (#862421) Journal
    So you sue a Chinese Internet of Crap vendor. They don't defend themselves and you get a summary judgement. They have no assets in the country you're in, so you manage to get the court to order an injunction that prevents them from bringing any of their products into your country. They go bankrupt, their factories, brand trademarks, and product designs are bought by another Chinese company that happens to have the same set of directors and shareholders and all of the employees move over. They sell a new version of the product. Who wins?
    --
    sudo mod me up

  • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday July 02 2019, @03:59PM

    by ikanreed (3164) on Tuesday July 02 2019, @03:59PM (#862426) Journal

    Lol, like these shitty things don't come with a fucking EULA that says "Not fit for any purpose" that you have to agree to before you can heat or cool your house.

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Tuesday July 02 2019, @04:25PM

    by Thexalon (636) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 02 2019, @04:25PM (#862437)

    Just sue them

    That sounds great in theory, but:
    1. If you're in the USA, in a lot of cases, you can't. If you actually read the EULA, you'll often see that there's a section requiring that any dispute go into binding arbitration where they get to pick the arbitrator, and bans you from filing a class action suit in the event that the company does something bad to millions of people. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld this all as completely legal, and made it so these rules actually trump state laws as well.

    2. If they have 10 million affected customers, and assets of, say, $100 million, guess what the limit is on what you're getting in damages?

    3. Even if you win, you still have to collect damages, and that's easier said than done. Sometimes the mechanism for getting paid involves things like showing up with the sheriff and starting to take things [npr.org].

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.