How one man accidentally hacked thousands of robot vacuums

What's up, Sunshine? Terrific Tuesday to you. I'm Coi Wire. This is CNN 10. We're gonna shake things up a bit today. We have some announcements. First off, this week marks the start of a very special time of year. March is Women's History Month. It has its roots in International Women's Day on March 8th. This year's theme is Leading the Change: Women Shaping a Sustainable Future. All month we'll be highlighting some of the achievements of visionaries, both past and present.

Also to all my bookworms out there, this week is Read Across America Week. The annual celebration coinciding with doctor Seuss's birthday, Highlighting the joy and importance of reading. This year's theme is celebrating a nation of diverse readers, highlighting books that represent diverse cultures and those that promote inclusivity.

We'd love to hear about a great book that you might be reading right now or one of your all-time favorites. Message us at cnn10 at cnn.com or on Instagram at CNN10 and we're going to share some of your responses throughout the week.

An update now on the United States and Israel's war with Iran. As the war continues to expand throughout the region, many governments are scrambling to evacuate their citizens. But airspace closures over one of the world's busiest travel regions are spurring one of the worst global travel disruptions since the COVID-19 pandemic. Cancelled, delayed, diverted. Words few travelers want to hear.

But it's a reality for many airline passengers around the globe after several major travel hubs closed or heavily restricted their airspace because of missile and drone strikes across the Middle East. That conflict resulting in travel chaos, long lines and long waits, upending many trips. Um unfortunately our whole trip from our school canceled it, so we're no longer going to Dubai. Commercial flights in and out of Dubai have been suspended.

Airports in Abu Dhabi, Doha and other regional hubs were also either shut down or subject to severe restrictions. All are popular transit points for long-haul travel. And without these key connections, the flow of aircraft and flight crews has been disrupted. Many passengers left the city.

Stranded. We don't have any information. No one's telling us anything. We cannot get into contact with anyone. We're trying to go home. That's the only thing that we want. In one popular tourist destination, authorities in Bali, Indonesia. Say more than sixteen hundred tourists. were stranded at the airport Sunday after flights to the Middle East were cancelled or postponed. It's a headache all round. The new routes will likely be longer for passengers and the fuel costs higher for airlines.

At the Frankfurt Airport in Germany, one passenger bound for Australia says she's trying to rebook after her flight was cancelled. But it hasn't been easy. Yeah, I задет line. The phone hotline is completely overloaded. We can't reach anyone actually. It's not going so well at the moment. The disruptions are also a serious concern for people who work in the Middle East but live in different countries.

Like these migrant workers in Bangladesh, who say they're afraid they'll lose their jobs if they don't return soon. Airlines are scrambling to reroute flights with some headed over Saudi Arabia, but it's unclear how long the disruptions could last. Right now officials are urging people to check their flights and pack a lot of patience.

Now the war with Iran is having widespread repercussions from the economy, even on sports. The Qatar Soccer Federation postponed all tournaments and matches until further notice. Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar closed their airspace on Saturday as the strikes on Iran affected flights across the Middle East.

Today marks 100 days until the FIFA World Cup this summer, and the president of Iran's Soccer Federation says he doesn't know if the national team will play World Cup matches. Mehdi Taj told Sports Portal Varsesh 3 What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope. FIFA says it will be monitoring the situation. Iran is scheduled to play in Los Angeles, opening with New Zealand on June 15th.

Ten second trivia! When was the first electric vacuum invented? 1791, 1835, 1867, or 1901? Answer is 1901. British engineer Hubert Cecil Booth patented a large horse. Drawn machine that used a motor-powered pump to create suction, pulling dust through long hoses into a filter system outside of the building.

Have you heard about the man who hacked 7,000 vacuum cleaners? A software developer experimenting with his own robotic vacuum discovered a flaw that allowed access to thousands of others, including their cameras and microphones. Shedding light on potential security risks with smart home devices, let's look at how it happened and what we should know.

So in theory you could have used someone else's vacuum and navigated it around their home to see whatever you wanted to see. Or launching uh deep cleaning at 420 for everyone? Yes. Software developer Sammy S. Dufel was building an app to hack his DJI Romo smart vacuum. He wanted to use his PlayStation controller to make it move. But in the process, he accidentally uncovered a major security flaw.

With the help of an AI chatbot, Sammy discovered he could also access what he says were roughly 7,000 other vacuums, allowing him to get their approximate locations and even remotely control other people's vacuums. He could also see through other users' live camera feeds and hear through their vacuums microphones, features typically in place to help the vacuums navigate around a home and respond to voice commands.

When it happened, my wife started to hide the camera from the r robot because she was scared. I don't know, I freak out or scared. Sorry, it's make me laugh for nothing, but uh why are they gonna put a microphone in a vacuum? Like I don't know, I don't get it. Sammy immediately reported the flaw to DJI. After some back and forth, the company fixed it. DJI did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.

But Sammy says there's an important takeaway here for consumers thinking about buying any smart home device. Let other users be being a beta testers before you, so uh the company will fix the issue before you buy it.

Today's story getting a ten out of ten. A case of being in the right place at the right time with an incredible outcome. A police officer who took a different route to work and an off-duty firefighter who happened to have his gear in his car. arriving at a fiery car wreck at the same time. Both are former Marines jumped into action, saving a mother of three. Our Ryan Young has the story.

On the morning of February 18th, 2025, Vid Officer Brian Larrison had just started his shift when he decided to mix things up at his daily routine. My normal route is to go down um south from my house, but for some reason that day. Something just told me, take the 60. It wasn't long before he happened upon a fiery rack on US 60 near Mesa. As I approached the truck, I noticed there was a young lady inside. You could see her hands were flailing around on the inside.

Moments earlier, the vehicle had been rear-ended by a cement truck, flipping it over and trapping Mother III Amy Ruiz inside. She had just dropped off her kid. So I ran back to my motorcycle and I grabbed my PR twenty four baton, which is a side handle baton. Here, get out of the way, get out of the way. After a handful of strikes, Officer Larrison was finally able to break open the window.

Get out! Get out! Get out! But just as Amy was about to escape, the vehicle pulled back on its wheels, throwing her back inside. At that point I started running back up to the truck. to reach in or or try to get her out and then that's when I look to my right And I saw a fireman in his flame retardant gear. Get her out of there! Get her out! Get her out, dude! Off duty at the time, firefighter and paramedic Asa Pagia was unusually prepared for the situation.

I don't normally bring my fire gear home with me. Uh that day I had worked a overtime shift, so I happened to have my fire gear uh in my vehicle. Uh I couldn't see her but when I reached in I felt her legs and I was able to grab her legs and pull her and help her out of that vehicle. We gotcha. We gotcha. Anybody else in there? Hey help me carry over here. No

She cried out for help and she was very uh confused or hypoxic. Um, so she had probably been low on oxygen from the the smoke inhalation and so She wasn't very cognizant of of where she was or what's going on. I'm glad you're here, brother. The two former Marines modestly say they were simply doing their jobs. That's what they signed up for. To serve. And protect. I can't thank you guys enough for my life. There's no words to describe. There's no word big enough.

All right, Super Estreas. We were talking about the World Cup earlier, and this upcoming World Cup will be the first ever hosted across three countries, the US, Canada, and Mexico. So I am sending a shout out. to my friends in Mexico City. Mr. Stanaway and crew, thank you for this epic World Cup jersey. Are you kidding me? Escuela Lomas Altas, rise up.

Also, we have a shout out going to Mr. Russell at MS29, the Melrose School in the Bronx, New York. Thank you for subscribing and commenting on our CNN 10 YouTube channel. Tomorrow is your word Wednesday, so submit those vocabulary words to our latest post on Instagram. At CNN 10 or at Koi Wire and we will choose a winner to work into tomorrow's show. Bring it. See you later, alligators. I'm Koi Wire and we are CNN 10.