Hacked robots could be used to kill people, poison pets and help thieves rob homes, experts reveal

Researchers have discovered a number of security vulnerabilities in existing robots, which they say can be used by criminals to cause serious harm to their owners. IOActive tested robot operating systems and other software in order to identify nearly 50 flaws in robots from vendors including SoftBank Robotics, UBTECH Robotics, ROBOTIS, Universal Robots, Rethink Robotics, and Asratec Corp. Insecure communications, authentication issues, weak cryptography, memory corruption and privacy problems were just some of the issues named by the firm's senior security consultant Lucas Apa. The research paper says that criminals could exploit the flaws to gain control of robots in homes and workplaces, using them to spy on people and cause physical damage. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, ...