--- title: "Watch a Hacked “Smart Coffeemaker” Spew Steaming Water" description: "A hacker forced a smart coffeemaker to turn on its heating element and spit steaming water onto it while showing a ransomware message." date: "2020-09-28" modified: "2020-09-28" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/watch-hacked-coffeemaker" categories: - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "connected devices" - "cybersecurity" - "iot" - "the digest" --- # Watch a Hacked “Smart Coffeemaker” Spew Steaming Water ![A hacker forced a smart coffeemaker to turn on its heating element and spit steaming water onto it while showing a ransomware message.]() *\Image: Futurism\* ## Bad Beans About five years ago, the security firm Pen Test [found numerous security problems]() with a line of smart coffee makers and kettles made by a startup called Smarter. Now, in a humorous illustration of the perils of connected devices with poor security, a security researcher named Martin Hron [attacked one of the company's coffee makers]() — and forced it to turn on its heating element, spew steaming water onto it, and even spin up the bean grinder while showing a ransomware message. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJrIh94RSiI ## Wretched Roast Hron, who works for security company Avast, told *Ars Technica* that he hacked the coffeemaker to see how far he could exploit the hardware, but also to warn consumers about the dangers of poorly secured smart devices. "It was done to point out that this did happen and could happen to other IoT devices," he told *Ars*. "This is a good example of an out-of-the-box problem. You don't have to configure anything. Usually, the vendors don’t think about this." ## Daily Grind There's only limited harm that a coffee maker can do. But with connected gadgets like [home security systems](), [vehicles]() or [medical equipment](), the risks could be vastly higher. "Sure, you can still use it even if it’s not getting updates anymore, but with the pace of IoT explosion and bad attitude to support, we are creating an army of abandoned vulnerable devices that can be misused for nefarious purposes such as network breaches, data leaks, ransomware attack and DDoS," Hron wrote in a [blog post]() about the hack. **READ MORE:** [When coffee makers are demanding a ransom, you know IoT is screwed]() \[*Ars Technica*\] **More on cybersecurity:** [*FBI Reportedly Foils Russian Hack at Tesla Factory*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()