Samsung 'Smart' Camera Easily Hackable 62
An anonymous reader writes "The op-co.de blog has a post about the incredibly poor job Samsung did securing its new NX300 'smart camera.' One of the camera's primary features is that it can join Wi-Fi networks — this lets it upload photos, but it also lets you use your smartphone to access the photos on the camera directly. You can also connect with NFC. Unfortunately, the way they set it up is extremely insecure. First, there's an NFC tag that tells the camera where to download the app, and also the name of the access point set up by the camera. 'The tag is writable, so a malicious user can easily 'hack' your camera by rewriting its tag to download some evil app, or to open nasty links in your web browser, merely by touching it with an NFC-enabled smartphone.' Things aren't much better with Wi-Fi — a simple port scan reveals that the camera is running an unprotected X server (running Enlightenment). When the camera checks for new firmware, it helpfully reports your physical location. Its software also sets up unencrypted access points."
Hack Off! (Score:3, Insightful)
Not everything needs to be secure. My mailbox in not secure. I have photos printed at by others. When I start taking nude selfies, I'll make sure wifi is turned off.
Re:Is this really likely to happen? (Score:5, Insightful)
Agreed.
>Nor does it seem likely that there are hackers standing by to "touch" the powered up, wifi connected camera
Agreed.
>And when all is said a relatively trivial patch would correct the issue.
Yes, but it should have been secure out of the box. Many manufacturers don't give a lot of thought to security, and that needs to change. If someone can own your camera over their WiFi, they can load an app that gives them access to YOUR WiFi when you get home. That's pretty serious.