---
title: "Programmer Discovers His Smart Vacuum Was Spying on Him"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/programmer-discovers-his-smart-vacuum-was-spying-on-him-triqxigcm
source_url: https://80.lv/articles/programmer-discovers-his-smart-vacuum-was-spying-on-him/
type: article
source: "80 LEVEL"
published: 2025-11-04T07:45:12.567Z
updated: 2025-11-04T07:45:33.062Z
tags: ["security", "android", "privacy", "iot", "reverse-engineering"]
reading_time: 4
upvotes: 47
comments: 11
language: en
---

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# Programmer Discovers His Smart Vacuum Was Spying on Him

**[80 LEVEL](https://daily.dev/sources/80lv)** · 4 min read · 47 upvotes · 11 comments

## Summary

A programmer discovered his ILIFE A11 smart vacuum was sending unencrypted data including Wi-Fi credentials and home maps to manufacturer servers. When he blocked the data transmission, the device was remotely bricked by the manufacturer. After disassembling it and accessing its unprotected Android Debug Bridge, he found the manufacturer had root access via pre-installed software. The same hardware powers devices from multiple brands including Xiaomi and Wyze, suggesting widespread vulnerability. He successfully restored the device with full local control by removing manufacturer access.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://80.lv/articles/programmer-discovers-his-smart-vacuum-was-spying-on-him/>

## Community discussion

Top comments from developers on daily.dev.

**@ronydkid** · 4 upvotes

> I lol'd because of the title. What a world we live in. Imagine showing this title to someone from 1940's

**@code\_chimp** · 4 upvotes

> "Discovered" or "verified"? As an IT professional, I automatically assume every smart device is spying on me in some capacity.

**@bigmoses** · 2 upvotes

> About as disgusting as those smart fridges and smart beds that stopped working when AWS US-EAST1 broke down.

**@danielmills** · 1 upvotes

> Interesting situation, but you're better off just finding the link to the original story (you can find it inside this link) and reading that.

**@jack\_starborn** · 1 upvotes

> Manufacturer bricked this man device out of spite?

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---

Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#android](https://daily.dev/tags/android), [#privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/privacy), [#iot](https://daily.dev/tags/iot), [#reverse-engineering](https://daily.dev/tags/reverse-engineering)

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