DIGITAL LIFE

How Millions of People Did Free Laundry Because of a Bug

A pair of students from the University of California, in the United States, discovered a security flaw that allows them to “hack” the system of washing machines connected to the internet. To TechCrunch, students Alexander Sherbrooke and Iakov Taranenko explained that, thanks to a loophole, it is possible to use a service offered at universities in different countries for free.

Two students at the University of California, in the United States, discovered a security flaw that allows them to “hack” washing machines connected to the internet;

The duo found the vulnerability in the API of an app from the company CSC ServiceWorks, which operates more than a million washing machines in hotels, universities and homes in the United States, Canada and Europe;

The bug allows you to send remote commands to use the machines for free, or top up your app account with a false amount of money;

The students tried to contact CSC, but received no response from the company;

The vulnerability was identified in more than one million washing machines operated by CSC ServiceWorks, available in hotels, universities and homes in the United States, Canada and Europe. The bug was found in an API of the company's mobile application, CSC Go, used for users to pay for laundry services.

As the students said, the loophole in the app allows any user to send commands to machines operated by the company and use smart devices without having to pay for the service or update their app account to show a false balance.

Sherbrooke said he was in the college laundry room when he ran a code script with instructions to start a washing cycle on the machine – despite having no balance in his account. In another case, students managed to add a fake balance of millions of dollars to one of their CSC Go accounts.

The duo said that, since January, they sent several messages to CSC ServiceWorks and even tried to make a phone call to inform them about the failure, but the company did not return the contact.

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