A Nest security system at a couple’s house in Wisconsin was anything but secure, causing a nightmare for the homeowners after it was hacked.
Samantha and Lamont Westmoreland installed the $700 system, which included a Nest camera, doorbell and thermostat, in their Milwaukee home in 2018, WGNO-TV reported.
It seems the system worked fine until last week when Samantha Lamont said she returned home from work Tuesday and discovered the temperature inside her home was 90 degrees.
She told WITI-TV she thought it was a glitch and reset the thermostat, but what followed was anything but a glitch.
“My heart was racing,” she said. “I felt so violated.”
The hacker reset the couple’s thermostat to 90 degrees and even spoke to them through their kitchen camera before playing vulgar music, they said.
Even after they changed their Wi-Fi passwords, the hacker still had access to their system, the Westmorelands told WITI.
“If someone hacks into your Wi-Fi, they shouldn't be able to have access to those Nest devices without some sort of wall they have to get over,” Lamont Westmoreland told the news station.
Google denied there was a system breach, according to WGNO.
“These reports are based on customers using compromised passwords (exposed through breaches on their websites),” the tech behemoth said in a statement.
“In nearly all cases, two-factor verification eliminates this type of security risk,” the company said.
Samantha Westmoreland told WITI the Nest hack was an extremely frightening experience.
"People need to be educated and know that this is real, and this is happening, and it is super scary, and you don't realize it until it's actually happening to you,” she said.
About the Author
