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My smart fridge tried to order 12 gallons of milk after a weird update last night. | Cybersecurity Tips - Opinions Matter

gavinw53•6mo ago

My smart fridge tried to order 12 gallons of milk after a weird update last night.

I had to scramble to change the default password from 'admin123' before it could ship. Anyone else have a 'smart' device go rogue on them?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles5816mo ago

Used to think smart home stuff was just cool and harmless, but my own coffee maker started brewing at 3 am every day for a week after an update. Felt like a real horror movie in my own kitchen lol. Now I'm way more careful about default settings and passwords on everything. Your milk story is the final push I needed to go check all my other devices.

piper_flores696mo ago

My smart thermostat actually saved me from frozen pipes last winter when the power went out (it sent an alert to my phone so I could call a neighbor). Sometimes the tech fails in weird ways like your coffee maker, miles581, but I've had way more good than bad. The problem isn't the devices being smart, it's the companies rushing updates without enough testing. I'd rather have a helpful device that sometimes glitches than go back to dumb everything.

anna5673mo ago

That was me after my smart bulb factory reset itself and started doing random disco light shows at 2am. Honestly, the thing that saved me was buying a cheap smart plug with a physical switch on the side. Now any device I'm iffy about gets plugged into that so I can cut power manually if it acts up. Also started writing down every default password on a sticky note taped to the back of the router case - old school but works better than any app. The coffee maker story you mentioned is exactly why I unplug anything that doesn't need to be on overnight. Sometimes the simplest fix is just remembering that these things are basically small computers that can crash in the dumbest ways.