Thomas Peter/Reuters
A Phoenix man says his Nest home camera was hacked—and the hacker spoke to him through the device, The Arizona Republic reports. Andy Gregg said he was in his backyard when he heard a voice he didn’t recognize coming from inside his house. Assuming it was a burglar, Gregg went inside and discovered that the voice was actually coming from his front window—more specifically, the security camera in his window. The voice belonged to a man who informed Gregg that he was a “white hat” hacker with the group Anonymous. “I’m really sorry if I startled you or anything,” the man can be heard saying to Gregg on a recording provided to the newspaper.
The hacker told Gregg his private information had been compromised and that he had accessed Gregg’s camera in order to warn him about its security vulnerabilities. Ever since their introduction, experts have warned that internet-connected devices similar to Gregg’s Nest Cam—such as the Amazon Alexa, Google Home, smartphones, and smart appliances—have unaddressed security vulnerabilities. “It feels like you’ve been robbed essentially and somebody's in your house,” Gregg said. “They know when you’re there. They know when you’re leaving.”