Google just disabled access to Xiaomi devices on Nest Hub, Assistant: Here’s why

The issue was first reported by Android Police and it is not clear what caused the problem. So what exactly is the privacy issue here? Well, the Nest Hub is a 7-inch smart home device with a screen and one can connect it to their Xiaomi devices or other smart devices. It can also connect to the Xiaomi Smart Camera and livestream the footage, which is being recorded. Except in this case, the Xiaomi camera appeared to show footage from a completely different source.

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The user had first reported the issue on Reddit with the name Dio-V and according to him, the Xiaomi Mijia 1080p Smart IP security camera was showing still images from other homes, when he tried to stream from the camera to his Google Nest Hub. In an email to The Verge, the user said they saw images of an enclosed porch, a sleeping man in a chair, and a sleeping baby in a crib.

Xiaomi camera is showing stills from other cameras on my Google home hub! from r/Xiaomi

According to Dio-V, while Google had contacted him about the issue, Xiaomi was yet to do so. This is not the first time that an issue has been reported with smart home cameras. Recently, smart security camera manufacturer Wyze reported a massive breach where the data of nearly 2.4 million customers was exposed for more than three weeks.

Email addresses, Wi-Fi network IDs and body metrics were left unprotected between December 4 and December 26, 2019, according to a report.

In December, it was reported that Amazon’s Ring security cameras could be easily hacked. In a serious incident, a hacker was able to access the Ring camera feed of an eight-year-old girl in Mississippi. The camera had been installed in her bedroom.

Ring later issued a statement that they were investigating the issue and and recommended that users rely on two-factor authentication to secure their account further.  Motherboard had also put out a detailed report on how Ring cameras lacked basic security measures and could easily be hacked.

The Xiaomi cameras are also available in India. The Mi Security Camera is sold in two variants: in the basic 1080p and the 360-degree 1080p version priced at Rs 1,7999 and Rs 2,699 respectively. The recent issue once again raises questions on how companies are collecting data from these smart devices.