this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023
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True to some extent, but I think a lot people give these firms too much credit.
Your microwave will not send your food heating data to NSA. At best the manufacturer uses it to see how people use their appliances.
Voice guided home assistants might send sound to servers for analysis, but even then it's just the stuff you actively sent to be used as a query. When they're listening for activation messages "passively", this data does not get sent outside of the device. This conception really bothers me as it really propagates an illusion that we've already lost and have no control.
There's no need to covertly spy when the biggest data is given voluntarily through the TikToks, Facebooks and Twitters of the world.
It's not that they're actively spying, it's just another way that an attacker could get in. You can have a highly secure network setup but if there's a cheap IoT device with no security connected then suddenly that's a backdoor in for a real attacker. Maybe that's John Hackerman at the NSA, maybe it's some script kiddie scanning for anyone running a device with a known exploit!
And that's why IoT devices needing internet access don't have access to other devices on the network and vice versa for devices with a local interface.
I agree with you, but I would add that they also might be doing their best to crosstrack what other products you use and how. Obviously, that's one of the reasons why you have them quarantined in the first place. I just wanted to mention it in case a reader wants to set up a different network for each potential creepy device. I don't.
Crosstracking is indeed a thing. Obviously it has its limits, since the other devices have to communicate back. It should be easy enough to see all devices that are on the same network though.
IoT is a popular attack vector. So proper precautions should be made. Perhaps only give them access to your guest wi-fi. Perhaps a separate network entirely.