The coffee maker is undoubtedly a very important appliance for every household. In recent years, various "smart" coffee makers have been released that can be connected to the "Internet of Things" (IoT), and either operate automatically with specific indications or are programmed via a smartphone or a smart speaker.
The idea of a Wi-Fi-connected coffee maker that can brew your coffee before you even get out of bed probably sounds great to you. Unfortunately, it turns out that even these “smart” coffee makers can be compromised by hackers – attackers could even go so far as to demand a ransom to regain control of it, which may seem funny to you, but it’s not.
This revelation comes from Martin Hron, who conducted the research – who works as a researcher at Avast. Essentially, Hron wanted to determine whether it was possible for hackers to not only gain access to a home network through an IoT device (essentially using it as a weak point in the network), but also to essentially take control of devices like coffee makers and use them for malicious purposes. To do this, he ran a test with a smart coffee maker that costs $250 and operates with remote commands over a Wi-Fi network.
The answer to the test he conducted is that this type of coffee maker can definitely be hacked, as the Ars Technica video below shows.
The gist of the matter is that the coffee maker acts as a home Wi-Fi access point. Hron exploited this to develop a “ransomware hack,” where the target computer or a connected device is “held hostage.” Once that happens, an attacker can either shut it down , expose information, or destroy it until a ransom is paid. For example, this means that if you accidentally turn on the device , it might squirt hot water and generally be inoperable until you either unplug it or comply with the hacker’s demands.
While it's unlikely that hackers would launch an attack just to break into your coffee maker, it's possible that they could use it as a gateway to your home network. If you can't stomach the idea that security issues could deprive you of your coffee – and many other things – just get out of bed and make your own.
