Man uses networked 'crazy' toaster to hack PC

The more paranoid among us have long been wary of the possibility that networked fridges might spontaneously turn off, perhaps after becoming infected with a computer virus, ruining milk in the process. Other networked appliances might also pose a danger of sorts, security boffins have shown. A security expert from Check Point …

[Anonymous Coward]

Talkie the toaster

It must have been Talkie the Toaster from Red Dwarf

[Anonymous Coward]

Networked Kitchen

I *KNEW* that the toaster was looking at me funny this morning. The damn thing is conspiring with the microwave for control of the freezer. Thankfully the Lean Green Milling Machine is on a separate subnet and hasn't found them yet.

I'm not sure about the radio alarm either. I'm sure it laughs when it wakes me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Cylons Are coming ;)

This is the funniest thing i have read today.

Will this man be responsible for the first cylon war? the toasters take over the world, lol.

Well done to him, i think this is a briilaint extrapolation on the the dangers of making everything reliant on networking solutions.... heck thats how the cylons nuked the 12 colonies in the first place (In battlestar galatica for those who think i have gone mad)

Pause for thought? Naa but hacking a network with a kettle might be another cool invention, wonder if you could get the uber hacker kitchen set "for the serious hacker, hacking comes before coffee and toast" lol

[David Adams]

Its...

Talky toaster isn't it!

"I don't want any toast, I just want to read my emails"

"Ah, so you're a Waffle man."

[Liam Johnson]

Noone is safe

>>If an appliance or home device comes as a gift

But how can you be sure your mother didn't buy it from a dodgy dealer??

The only way to be sure is to pop out the microcontroller and reverse engineer a new one built from discrete parts, preferably valves, so you can look inside to make sure nobody has bugged it.

[Anonymous Coward]

RE: Networked Kitchen

@AC

Your beer fridge must be full of Fosters if your toaster and microwave want control of the freezer! Get some decent beer in.

[Damian Gabriel Moran]

"Hello Toast Operator..."

"yeah this is Todd LaBada, give me a couple of slices of light". Let's see how many people remember that!!

[Kris Chaplin]

networked toaster

Perhaps I'm missing the point, but what possible benifit is a network attachment to a toaster?

[Scott Evil]

omg

So remote access is the key function to a networked Kitchen?

Pre plan your cooking,assuming the food is in place ready to be cooked...

I wonder if we can network our minds so we dont even have to leave the house at some point in the future,we can work from home!!!! WOW!!! or not........

I like being human ,active and in control.

[Edward Rose]

Erm...?

A toaster that can hack a PC.

So, really a PC that can make some toast.

Am I the only one who thought Pentium?

Fly me to the moon, and let me play amongst the stars....

[Daniel]

play with fire

and you will get burned

mine's the fireman's jacket on the left.

[Steve]

Networked Appliances?

Wtf do you need a networked toaster for in the first place? Does it send you an email when the bread is finished browning? anyone who buys one of these in the first place deserves to be hacked!

Think I'll just get my coat .............

[Colin Millar]

Easy to avoid this danger

Simply overclock your SLI rig with the fans turned off and you will never need a networked toaster again.

[Anonymous Coward]

chinese junk

another great reason not to buy crap from china.

[John Miles]

Why Network toaster

Isn't it obvious the advantages – it can download and burn images of the latest miracle onto the toast, thus making the ability to sell at a profit on fleabay

Either that or just a way for the manufacturers to charge £50 for a £5 pound piece of hardware

[jrroark]

Already happening!

I just noticed a process in Vista <dear me> named hpqtoaster.exe!

THEY already have taken over!.

[Shaun]

punchbread?

Did the hack involve 576 carefully ordered piecies of bread with various holes cut in them?

[Phil Endecott]

@Steve

> Wtf do you need a networked toaster for in the first place? Does it send

> you an email when the bread is finished browning?

No, that would be too useful. But it does tell the smoke-alarm that there's nothing to worry about, once it has burnt it.

[DirkGently]

Tomorrow People

Those of you old enough may remember the episode where the household appliances went mad. Be afraid! BE VERY AFRAID!!!

[Anonymous John]

Everyone would hate Microsoft toasters,

but would buy them anyway since most of the good bread only works with their toasters.

[Hayden Clark]

The toaster is just an example...

.. what we might worry about is the various LAN-connected toys you can get. Networked media players, Home NAS boxes, that new Western Digital thingie that lets you share content over t' internet - they're all fairly sophisticated IP hosts that could potentially launch an attack against PCs on your LAN.

You're trusting that the authors of the firmware were just trying to make the product work......

[Anonymous Coward]

The end is near!

The appliances are advancing their true plan. To gain access to the bathroom and throw themselves into the tub while innocent civillians relax inside of it. We cannot let these terrorists operate, we must strike for the free peoples of the world, and defend ourselves against those that would do us harm!

-Future White House response to Appliance wars, and suicide shorting.

[Rick Brasche]

it's almost cliche

with a name like "Dror Shalev" you're already half way to becoming an evil cybernetic overlord. Sounds vaguely similar to that guy that created the Daleks...

[Mike Moyle]

Coming Soon...!

The Brave Little Toaster II: Insurrection

[Dave Harris]

The toaster wants network access because...

The toaster wants internet access so it can find out the day's weather and burn in an appropriate image. See http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/06/04/bread_as_a_display_device/

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: toaster

Hasn't anyone ever heard of pop-up blockers?

Coat on, toast being munched...

[Edward Pearson]

This is where I begin to get annoyed.

Don't get me wrong. I love technology, in all its shapes and forms.

However, when we as a society end up in a situation where we've spend time, money on effort on producing a "networked toaster", then somthing is seriously wrong.

Apart from the obvious "to show off a SecCons", what on Earth would you do with a networked toaster? Does your toaster need to communicate with your iPod? Do we really need a text message telling us that those crumpets are ready? Will these toasters support IPv6? Will we have to spend $500 in licensing fees for the "Ultimate" toasting experiance?

My advice, spend more money on renewable energy sources, if only to power my fully WiFi enabled kitchen sink. I've just installed the Reporting Server and I think my lights are dimmer, what with its new DRM capabilities eating all the power.

[Chris]

Toast Control Protocol?

Breadband?

[Scott]

The next predator

At least it's not flying yet.

[Tom]

Now that we have the important questions about security out the way

would you like a tea cake?

Its not just bready, its quite curranty too.

[Charles Manning]

Toaster security is simple

Just set up a /etc/toasts, /etc/toasts.allow, /etc/toasts.deny etc correctly and you're done.

[Anonymous Coward]

@TCP

Chris, for making me laugh at work, you are hereby banned from posting to El Reg until my boss goes away.

[Michael Wood]

Good posts

There are some bloody funny posts on here, namely the Networked Kitchen comment along with Chris's TCP. Made me chuckle!

[Matt]

yeah, like i really need a title

he used a network toaster... so they exist... :)

cool... i want, no NEED one... and in time for christmas!!!

[Joe]

Apparently the upgrade.....

Is to include a HDD and a BitTorrent client.

[Martin Harris]

Marshall Smith wasnt far off

What next, bribing the door lock when you forget your keys!

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw a loaf of bread on the shelves and thought of you

Thick Cut

[Chris]

Has your boss gone yet?

I really need to get home.