2024-01-16 08:12:01
A case is currently causing a stir online in which the LG washing machine of an X user named Johnie generates more than 3.6 GB of data traffic every day. “WTF! Why does my LG washing machine use 3.6 GB of data per day?”the user asked in his released on January 9th and the X-Post has now been viewed more than 17 million times.
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You can also see a screenshot showing the traffic, which was fairly evenly distributed throughout the day. At 3.57 GB, a large part of the data traffic appears to be due to uploads. The washing machine only downloaded around 96 MB in the same 24-hour period. The increased data volume probably started on January 4th, as shown a later post by Johnie emerges.
There is still speculation about the cause
The actual cause of the increased data volume of the washing machine is probably not yet clear. Just yesterday Johnie explainedsaid they have not heard back from LG regarding possible bug fixes or required firmware updates after emailing the company about the incident informed had.
Over time, a number of theories emerged regarding possible causes for X. Johnie himself also shared one like this: “Sorry if you used my washing machine to mine Bitcoin. But I would like to rent out the LPU (Laundry Processing Unit) by the hour”, he explained jokinglyafter blocking traffic in his router.
Another user notedthe washing machine may be constantly transmitting diagnostic data because errors repeatedly occur when searching for updates.
Misuse for DDoS attacks is conceivable
However, there is also the obvious suspicion that an attacker may have infected the washing machine with malware by exploiting a security gap and integrated it into an IoT botnet in order to carry out DDoS attacks on other targets on the Internet.
The distribution of the data volume also fits in with this: the commands that the attacker sends to the LG washing machine would generate comparatively little data in the download, but the DDoS data transmitted from the IoT device to a target system on the Internet would generate even more in the upload.
This would certainly not be the first time that LG has had to patch a security hole that allows attackers to take over the manufacturer’s smart devices and misuse them for malicious purposes. Already in October 2017 warned security researchers at Check Point from such a vulnerability, which was then called a home hack.
Regardless of what actually is the cause of the high data volume of Johnie’s washing machine: This case shows that it can be worthwhile to keep an eye on the data traffic of networked IoT devices in order to detect possible misuse at an early stage.
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