Another day, another smart home appliance scandal. This time, it's not about the ring or the Wyze website, but Xiaomi. And Google is stepping up to help solve the security problem. Here's everything you need to know.
What happened?
Google is preventing Xiaomi devices from accessing its socket hub and Google Assistant. He announced the decision after Xiaomi was told by a camera owner that he had seen unfamiliar photos, presumably from other Xiaomi users in the camera, displayed on the device's hub socket. This question, first reported on Reddit and seen by the Android police, has just been confirmed by Google. He says that they are working on a fix in contact with Xiaomi.
“At the same time, we removed Xiaomi from integrating our devices,” Google said. There is no word on when access will be restored.
Xiaomi camera shows footage from other cameras on my Google home hub! from r/millet
Who is to blame?
One Reddit user claimed that their new Xiaomi Mijia 1080p smart IP security camera streaming photos to their hub sockets. These images turned out to be from other users' homes. On Reddit, a user said facets that they are based in the Netherlands and have seen photos of the front porch, the person sleeping in the chair, and the baby in the crib. Dio-V has been contacted by Google, but not like Xiaomi, until now.
It's too early to tell at this point, but it seems that Xiaomi is not to blame, as its own integration of serving other people's photos on the socket hub. In October 2019, Google owns Nest announced its device access program has several restrictions on which third-party devices can work with Nest devices. There are only a couple dozen cameras that support nest displays, for example.
To limit the impact of this security incident, Google is taking the cautious route of cutting off access to Xiaomi until things are sorted out. As the Android Police said, it's hard to confirm this is Xiaomi's fault, since a Reddit post and Google's confirmation is all we have now.
What should you do?
If you own a Xiaomi camera, perhaps without turning it off and removing it from your Wi-Fi network, the Smart Home system, and the Xiaomi device socket does not yet speak and eventually rolls out to fix. We will keep you posted as we find out more.