Hey guys. I'm a standard idiot, little better than your average rock and stick. Used to watch Hak5 when it was on RevolutionTV and available on my tivo, but haven't since they moved. I find the whole tinkering world fascinating, but haven't used it for more than free wireless when my system goes down on vacation, at school, etc. Love the reaver!
Anyway, I'm also an avid fisherman.
As such I was extremely excited when Minn Kota, the premier trolling motor company, came out with a purely automatic, gps driven motor. You can drop your boat off the trailer, hit a button on a remote, and your boat will go park itself without human intervention. Awesome!
Here's a demo:
However.....being a somewhat wise member of the stick and rock family, I know that just because I can run a robot doesn't mean that someone else can't - occasionally very easily. So just before buying one of these $2300 add-ons I thought I should contact the company about security. The response? "We re-use the same code multiple times so hacking shouldn't be a problem".
Huh?
That sounds like exactly what I'd NOT want to hear. The last thing I need is some guy on the bank driving my boat into a rock, or over a dam, or into some idiot power-boater who probably isn't paying attention anyway.
I'm sure at this point you're wondering, "Did you hack it?" - well no, I'm a rock, remember? I am concerned that all these IOT manufacturers think of security as "not an issue" though. There's go to be a better way! I suppose this post is more of a rant or a heads-up than anything, Though I'm angry enough I might just get started on this little project...