Hackers can remotely hijack some models of Sonos and Bose speakers, it has been revealed.
The Wi-Fi connected speakers can be remotely controlled, forcing them to play audio files.
Fortunately, only a small fraction of Bose and Sonos Wi-Fi connected speakers are vulnerable to this particular exploit.
The vulnerability was first unearthed by researchers at Trend Micro.
The security specialists discovered that certain Bose and Sonos speakers can be found online with a simple scan.
According to Wired Magazine, hackers can use this to access internet-enabled services, like Spotify, through the speaker.
Audio files could also be remotely played to trigger nearby smart home devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home.
Given that these smart speakers can be used to control security systems and smart locks to secure a house – the hijack has terrifying implications.
It would also be possible to order food from popular take-away services, as well as items from Amazon UK.
Songs told Wired Magazine that those speakers vulnerable to this typer of remote hack are actually on misconfigured networks.
However, the speaker company pushed-out a software update that limits the amount of user data potential hijackers would be able to access using this kind of hack.
Bose has yet to take action to protect the speakers identified by the Trend Micro researchers.
It’s unclear how much damage could be wrecked using this particular exploit, or whether the remote hijack will primarily be used for practical jokes.
Regardless, it’s something Bose and Sonos users should be aware of.
According to Wired Magazine, the systems affected by this hack include the Sonos Play:1, the newer Sonos One, and popular Bose SoundTouch systems.
Trend Micro Research Director, Mark Nunnikhoven said: “The unfortunate reality is that these devices assume the network they’re sitting on is trusted, and we all should know better than that at this point.
“Anyone can go in and start controlling your speaker sounds.”