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Hacking my “smart” toothbrush

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141–150 of 311 posts

Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush

#141
post #62

Kind of concerning this could turn into another toner ink situation

It has already happened. Philips has designated 3x months for a single toothbrush lifespan, which may or may not be the case (depending on one's toothbrush using habits) as the head clearly does not annihilate automagically after three months. For the sake of the conversation, let's say the recommendation is valid. Where it gets more interesting, though, is actually not at Philips but at shops that sell replacement h…

Are that many people talking to someone at the store when they buy a $65 toothbrush?

Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mine doesn’t just blink; it keeps doing this annoying fast vibrate/noise whenever I stop brushing. So I was reading the article really hoping for an easy jailbreak at the end.

From the sounds of it, three wrong password attempts (from a phone or similar) could accomplish this? That should stop the toothbrush from being able to add extra time to the head

I would guess that it would probably stop working altogether, if it cannot write in the brush head?

Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...I must press too hard Could be. My wife presses so hard, I hear the motor bog down. "JFC, honey, let up a bit", to no avail. She's constantly replacing her heads. I literally can't remember the last time I popped a new one on mine. I could easily believe it's been six months (and, yeah, it's about due).

That’s probably really bad for your wife’s teeth.

It's mostly bad for your gums. The plastic bristles and abrasives in toothpaste aren't meaningfully wearing healthy tooth enamel in the amount of time most people spend brushing.

Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush

#144
post #62

Kind of concerning this could turn into another toner ink situation

It has already happened. Philips has designated 3x months for a single toothbrush lifespan, which may or may not be the case (depending on one's toothbrush using habits) as the head clearly does not annihilate automagically after three months. For the sake of the conversation, let's say the recommendation is valid. Where it gets more interesting, though, is actually not at Philips but at shops that sell replacement h…

Huh? As shown in the article; the system keeps track of brushing time; not time in general.

Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's a feature customers ask for? What laws do you want written? How "secure" am I allowed to make my product before the Feds come a-knockin'? And what does a "factory reset" accomplish? The hacker trying to get company IP (or whatever the password is protecting) gets three more attempts at it after the reset? Finally, and I'm not saying this makes it okay, but e-fuses are common as dirt these days. I don't k…

> Because it's a feature customers ask for? Aren't switches to temporarily bypass emissions controls in cars illegal, despite being a feature customers ask for? > What laws do you want written? I want all e-fuses to be banned, as well as any other means for manufacturers to permanently reduce, restrict, or remove functionality from products after they've been sold. > How "secure" am I allowed to make my product befor…

> Aren't switches to temporarily bypass emissions controls in cars illegal, despite being a feature customers ask for?

So you'd propose that we bans switches? You're saying that a microcontroller should never have a certain feature because you don't like how it has been implemented by a single company. Then you propose that nobody should have this feature ever because someone once used it to turn on a light reminding you that it's time to change your toothbrush head (and then let you brush your teeth normally with no further interruption).

I don't think your analogy holds up, nor have you thought through what you propose.

Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just change the brush head on the 1st of every month. They say it lasts for 3 months, I must press too hard. So it goes.

...I must press too hard Could be. My wife presses so hard, I hear the motor bog down. "JFC, honey, let up a bit", to no avail. She's constantly replacing her heads. I literally can't remember the last time I popped a new one on mine. I could easily believe it's been six months (and, yeah, it's about due).

I just got a new Sonicare. It actually has a feature that detects the over current condition, stops the motor, and buzzes.

Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush

#147

dumbest waste of materials. for what? just to waste more battery when i travel with it without a charger?

I'm still trying to figure out why people need a battery powered toothbrush over a conventional one, let alone one that needs apps and verifiable replacement heads.

Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush

#148
It's a toothbrush. Why does it need all this tech and an app?

It's better to think about sustainability.

I had an Oral B IO electric toothbrush. The retail price is nuts and the brushes are expensive and can't really be recycled. Imagine millions of these out there slowly rotting.

I gave up on the IO and bought this one instead. Simple design and battery lasts longer too.

https://www.trysuri.com/

Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush

#149
post #140
post #4

Great article, the most interesting part of which is that you can lock your self out of your toothbrush head after three wrong password attempts. I didn't dig into the data sheet for the NFC chip very deeply, but I imagine that it's just the default that the chip ships with. Or maybe Philips really wants that $25 for a new toothbrush head. :-) EDIT: nope, not the default. From the data sheet, last sentence: "To preve…

Wouldn't this open them to an DoS attack? Set your flipper to fire off bad password attempts at the store and now the entire aisle of toothbrush heads are silently disabled.

It wouldn't happen often enough for that to matter in the risk calculation.

Re: Hacking my “smart” toothbrush

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long's it going to be before "smart" toothbrushes become the only option? Should I start stockpiling "dumb" toothbrushes now while I still can? The other day I was trying to buy a pair of bathroom scales and it took me far too long to find one that just, you know, weighed things without also demanding I connect it to the Wi-Fi and download a smartphone app. How is this an improvement?

My pet peeve with bathroom scales is that it is impossible to find one that actually does what it claims and has accuracy of +-0.1kg. They do show the measurement to 0.1, but just shifting your weight differently can cause a difference of hundreds of grams. Does anyone knlw a scale that actually measures at 0.1kg accuracy?

Is it ever significant to know? Your body weight varies naturally depending on food intake, waste disposal, and even when you last went for a hair cut. If sub-kilo variations are medically relevant, I would expect one to measure more than just weight.
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