New Thermostat
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@scottalanmiller said in New Thermostat:
@BBigford said in New Thermostat:
I just remembered one other reason we bought the Nest... Adaptive schedule. It learns our schedule and adapts to transitions in temperature day to day so it auto adjusts.
That's specifically a feature that worries me. My schedule isn't predictive, so that feature to me just means that it won't work.
Yeah that's tough then. We kind of have a schedule, with some variation. So over time it builds a profile. We rarely have to adjust it now for the seasons, but our variation in schedules is usually only a few hours.
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@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
On a side thought, wasn't there a recent post on how unsecure these things are, how you could be ransom'd to pay Bitcoin to have the AC /Heat turn on or off?
I thought nobody was putting that online so we don't give them ideas?
Yeah, surprised it hasn't happened yet to be honest.
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@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
On a side thought, wasn't there a recent post on how unsecure these things are, how you could be ransom'd to pay Bitcoin to have the AC /Heat turn on or off?
Yes, but that was uploaded locally. It's just proving the concept that you could hack them. Which was obvious to begin with since they are connected devices. Still fully secure as far as what's been released.
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I mean, if I had a smartstat and it was hacked, I'd just flip the breaker and go buy a new unit...
The units are cheaper than the Ransom.
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@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
I mean, if I had a smartstat and it was hacked, I'd just flip the breaker and go buy a new unit...
The units are cheaper than the Ransom.
Assuming it did get hacked and ransomed from an Internet connection... I'd have to look into it, but if it's under warranty, you could probably send it in and they'd wipe it at no cost. That would fall under a gray area of "defective or not working as intended". That would go more into the ethics on the user side more than anything I think. Sending something in that the company should cover. One could argue the opposite side I guess "well if it was more secure... it's not like I'm installing stuff, so the software was designed poorly."
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@BBigford said in New Thermostat:
@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
I mean, if I had a smartstat and it was hacked, I'd just flip the breaker and go buy a new unit...
The units are cheaper than the Ransom.
I'd have to look into it, but if it's under warranty, you could probably send it in and they'd wipe it at no cost. That would fall under a gray area of "defective or not working as intended".
But if it's the dead of winter could you be without heat for however long it takes to get it returned? I suppose you could reinstall the original thermostat....
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@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
@BBigford said in New Thermostat:
@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
I mean, if I had a smartstat and it was hacked, I'd just flip the breaker and go buy a new unit...
The units are cheaper than the Ransom.
I'd have to look into it, but if it's under warranty, you could probably send it in and they'd wipe it at no cost. That would fall under a gray area of "defective or not working as intended".
But if it's the dead of winter could you be without heat for however long it takes to get it returned? I suppose you could reinstall the original thermostat....
We keep the old thermostat for when we go to sell the house. Although now thinking about it, we'd probably leave the Nest as we'd want a more updated unit (or something different all together like the EcoBee again).
So yeah we could just install the old unit, or buy a new one for $20 (no schedule).
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@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
On a side thought, wasn't there a recent post on how unsecure these things are, how you could be ransom'd to pay Bitcoin to have the AC /Heat turn on or off?
Kind of hard to ransom someone when all they can do is lock you out of your settings. You either just reset it and program it again or replace it for $40 and turn the AC on. The ransom would be worth like nothing.
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@scottalanmiller said in New Thermostat:
@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
On a side thought, wasn't there a recent post on how unsecure these things are, how you could be ransom'd to pay Bitcoin to have the AC /Heat turn on or off?
Kind of hard to ransom someone when all they can do is lock you out of your settings. You either just reset it and program it again or replace it for $40 and turn the AC on. The ransom would be worth like nothing.
@scottalanmiller sure the ransomware is mostly worthless because the unit could just be reprogrammed. If you can get into it.
The posted article is from 2015 I believe, and uses root to access the device. Presumably they change the root password.
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@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
@BBigford said in New Thermostat:
@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
I mean, if I had a smartstat and it was hacked, I'd just flip the breaker and go buy a new unit...
The units are cheaper than the Ransom.
I'd have to look into it, but if it's under warranty, you could probably send it in and they'd wipe it at no cost. That would fall under a gray area of "defective or not working as intended".
But if it's the dead of winter could you be without heat for however long it takes to get it returned? I suppose you could reinstall the original thermostat....
How long can that take? I could get to the store and back with a new thermostat, assuming I lost the current one, faster than I could set up a bitcoin account, I bet. And then I'd have protection against this in the future, which would obviously be needed. And in the meantime, I'd start a fire in the fireplace or whatever.
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@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
@scottalanmiller said in New Thermostat:
@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
On a side thought, wasn't there a recent post on how unsecure these things are, how you could be ransom'd to pay Bitcoin to have the AC /Heat turn on or off?
Kind of hard to ransom someone when all they can do is lock you out of your settings. You either just reset it and program it again or replace it for $40 and turn the AC on. The ransom would be worth like nothing.
@scottalanmiller sure the ransomware is mostly worthless because the unit could just be reprogrammed. If you can get into it.
The posted article is from 2015 I believe, and uses root to access the device. Presumably they change the root password.
Factory reset button?
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@dafyre said in New Thermostat:
@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
@scottalanmiller said in New Thermostat:
@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
On a side thought, wasn't there a recent post on how unsecure these things are, how you could be ransom'd to pay Bitcoin to have the AC /Heat turn on or off?
Kind of hard to ransom someone when all they can do is lock you out of your settings. You either just reset it and program it again or replace it for $40 and turn the AC on. The ransom would be worth like nothing.
@scottalanmiller sure the ransomware is mostly worthless because the unit could just be reprogrammed. If you can get into it.
The posted article is from 2015 I believe, and uses root to access the device. Presumably they change the root password.
Factory reset button?
That's what I was assuming. Everything has one of those.
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@dafyre said in New Thermostat:
@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
@scottalanmiller said in New Thermostat:
@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
On a side thought, wasn't there a recent post on how unsecure these things are, how you could be ransom'd to pay Bitcoin to have the AC /Heat turn on or off?
Kind of hard to ransom someone when all they can do is lock you out of your settings. You either just reset it and program it again or replace it for $40 and turn the AC on. The ransom would be worth like nothing.
@scottalanmiller sure the ransomware is mostly worthless because the unit could just be reprogrammed. If you can get into it.
The posted article is from 2015 I believe, and uses root to access the device. Presumably they change the root password.
Factory reset button?
Is that an option on these, I would think it would be, but I honestly haven't the slightest idea if these are so easily reset.
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@scottalanmiller said in New Thermostat:
@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
@BBigford said in New Thermostat:
@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
I mean, if I had a smartstat and it was hacked, I'd just flip the breaker and go buy a new unit...
The units are cheaper than the Ransom.
I'd have to look into it, but if it's under warranty, you could probably send it in and they'd wipe it at no cost. That would fall under a gray area of "defective or not working as intended".
But if it's the dead of winter could you be without heat for however long it takes to get it returned? I suppose you could reinstall the original thermostat....
How long can that take? I could get to the store and back with a new thermostat, assuming I lost the current one, faster than I could set up a bitcoin account, I bet. And then I'd have protection against this in the future, which would obviously be needed. And in the meantime, I'd start a fire in the fireplace or whatever.
Far point... a fireplace could help in the winter (if it's safe to use or you have one etc)
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@scottalanmiller said in New Thermostat:
@dafyre said in New Thermostat:
@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
@scottalanmiller said in New Thermostat:
@DustinB3403 said in New Thermostat:
On a side thought, wasn't there a recent post on how unsecure these things are, how you could be ransom'd to pay Bitcoin to have the AC /Heat turn on or off?
Kind of hard to ransom someone when all they can do is lock you out of your settings. You either just reset it and program it again or replace it for $40 and turn the AC on. The ransom would be worth like nothing.
@scottalanmiller sure the ransomware is mostly worthless because the unit could just be reprogrammed. If you can get into it.
The posted article is from 2015 I believe, and uses root to access the device. Presumably they change the root password.
Factory reset button?
That's what I was assuming. Everything has one of those.
As far as the Nest goes (haven't looked into doing that with an EcoBee), I can reboot my Nest by holding down the face/ring for 10 seconds and letting it cycle. You could hook it up via USB and install factory firmware. But it's so simple, there's have to be a click sequence on boot up, who knows if Nest has released that.
Also saw this guy doing something of the sort. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdPV7DNarG8
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Could make this a cool project, and it is likely cheaper by a bit, but it would be a pain to have to support it.
http://www.stuff.tv/features/how-build-homemade-nest-thermostat
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@scottalanmiller said in New Thermostat:
Could make this a cool project, and it is likely cheaper by a bit, but it would be a pain to have to support it.
http://www.stuff.tv/features/how-build-homemade-nest-thermostat
Yeah that seems painful, cool but painful.
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Yeah, if someone had a sweet interface and sensor kit ready to go, building your own might not be too bad. But everyone seems to have old, non-uniform weirdness that works but isn't what you'd be looking for.
