Hackable intercom lets you SPY on fellow apartment-dwellers

Kiwi hacker Caleb "alhazred" Anderson has popped a video intercom device that could have allowed him to spy on the 700 apartments in his building. The GrandStream GXV3175 intercom unit has been patched after Anderson - who by day serves as Context Information Security's lead consultant - began the attack while "inspired" by a …

[John Tserkezis]

"Anderson did not access any of the units in his apartment and merely demonstrated that the feat was possible."

Cut the bullshit. Of course he did, he could not have demonstrated the feat possible otherwise.

Or are we being asked to believe a number of thought experiments amount to proof?

[Anonymous Coward]

at a guess ...

.. he hacked into his own apt, and sees no reason why his was any different to any other; hence by implication he could have got into anyones?

Or he just got access to the same intercom system elsewhere, and hacked that; hence by implication he could have got into that in hiis own block?

[JDX]

Re: at a guess ...

Or he hacked another flat after telling them he was doing so, or with someone present. He's claiming he didn't _use_ the hack.

[pruby]

Re: at a guess ...

He didn't hack his own apartment unit as he didn't technically own it. He bought the same model off ebay and attacked that. Same as the other talk on hardware at the conference - anyone with a reputation has to be pretty careful here.

[Michael Habel]

Does this Dude live in an Office Block of Flats or something?!

700 Appartments seems like rather alot to me...

[Tom Chiverton 1]

Giant NSFW side boob not cool.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: not cool

... maybe it is cool, maybe it isn't ... can we see it again ... but in infrared this time?

Joking aside, it /did/ seem a bit of an unecessary and out of context pic.

[Cliff]

Anyone shocked?

It costs money to patch systems, and residents don't like building management charges so I'd imagine the majority of such systems are wide open, like HVACs, security cameras, or any other network connected kit

[JaitcH]

Reminds me of my condominium in Ho Chi Minh City where

all the video intercoms/door controls are installed in locations in the various apartment designs where maximum viewability of the apartment can be achieved. Mind you, this requires the control units being installed in some very inconvenient or unusual places and are a damn nuisance to work furniture layouts or access around.

I 'modified' my unit by pulling the microphone connectors loose along those with those of the camera.

Couple of days later a technician shows up, unannounced and unrequested and tells me my intercom unit is defective.

Asked what the problem was he advised me they can't see in the apartment nor hear what's going on.

I told him I had cut the wires (more dramatic) as I don't need the facility. I asked where his company was from he replied: 'Singapore'. He added, most every Singapore apartment has these things and many are connected to the 'emergency' (police/fire) services.

So much for Singapore being a 'free' country.

[Daniel Hall]

Where

is this sideboob you mention?

[Destroy All Monsters]

Deep reporting!

I think it's not good if the text occupies less space than the lead-in picture and needs to be embiggened by another large in-text picture.