A Wisconsin couple is warning smart-home owners about security issues after their in-house video system was recently disrupted by an unidentified hacker.
Lamont and Samantha Westmoreland noticed something wasn’t right when a random voice took over their Google Nest system on September 17, Newsweek reported. The pair started hearing noisy music echoing throughout their home and they realized that the thermostat was cranked all the way up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
“My heart was racing,” Samantha told Fox 6 News in an interview. “I felt so violated at that point.”
The couple installed a Nest camera, thermostat, and doorbell in their home last year and didn’t have any problems until last week’s incident. Samantha initially thought the wonky thermostat reading was a glitch and switched it back to room temperature. The next 24 hours were about to get more interesting for the pair, who had no idea what they were about to experience.
The thermostat continued to rise in temperature and then a strange voice started speaking from a camera in their kitchen. The device then started playing “vulgar” songs, prompting Samantha and her husband to immediately change their passwords.
However, the hacker’s activity continued and eventually, the pair asked their internet carrier for assistance and changed their network ID. The Westmorelands believe that an individual hacked into their internet and then their Nest devices.
Fox 6 News received a statement from a Google spokesperson on the incident, which indicated that “Nest was not breached.”
“These reports are based on customers using compromised passwords (exposed through breaches on other websites),” the Google spokesperson said. “In nearly all cases, two-factor verification eliminates this type of security risk.”
They continued, “Nest users have the option to migrate to a Google Account, giving them access to additional tools and automatic security protections such as Suspicious activity detection, 2-Step Verification, and Security Checkup. Millions of users have signed up for two-factor verification.”
Lamont and Samantha wanted to share their story with other homeowners, so they can prevent hackers from taking over their smart home setups.
“People need to be educated and know that this is real, and this is happening, and it is super scary, and you don’t realize it until it’s actually happening to you,” Samantha added.
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