Most of the time, hackers take advantage of a vulnerability in software to do something malicious, such as stealing account information, gaining backdoor access to someone’s computer, and so on. However interestingly enough, it seems that a group of hackers have decided that they would be using a vulnerability they discovered in the Nest smart thermostat to prevent information from being shared with Google.
According to the report on Forbes, the hackers claim that they have found a vulnerability in the Nest smart thermostat. Based on that vulnerability, they plan to exploit it and release a tool that would actually prevent Nest from sending information it has gathered back to its owner, Google.
Given that Google already knows a lot about us through our searches, the videos we watch (YouTube), our location (Google Maps), and so on, there are some who feel that a line should be drawn and that not everything about our lives should be delivered on a silver platter to Google. One of the hackers claims that despite Nest’s promise to not share its information with Google, they believe that there is no other way of preventing that other than the tool that they are planning on releasing.
In some ways it is a little ironic, especially given that Google recently announced Project Zero, which is Google’s attempt to make the internet safer for everyone by discovering vulnerabilities and helping to fix them. Of course we reckon it’s a matter of time before Google discovers the vulnerability and patches it with an update, but until then we guess Nest owners who are concerned about their privacy can look forward to using the tool when it is released.
Filed in . Read more about Google, Hacking, Nest and Security.