Ecovacs Deebot

Ecovacs Deebot robot vacuums can come with a built-in HD camera, microphones, and room-mapping sensors and LiDAR lasers. Cameras on robot vacuums raise some obvious security concerns like getting hacked and used to spy on you in your own home. And researchers found that LiDAR robot vacuums can be hacked and used to spy on voice conversations, even without a microphone. Lots of security concerns here for sure. Especially because we couldn’t confirm that Ecovacs allows users to set up two-factor authentication to help protect their devices or if they have a way to manage security vulnerabilities.

From a privacy standpoint, we have even more concerns about Ecovac. They say they can disclose personal information to third parties for purposes such as marketing. They also say they may sell users’ personal information if they don’t opt-out. Forcing users to opt-out of, rather than opt-into selling of personal data is not ideal.

What’s the worst that could happen with Ecovacs’ Deebot line of robot vacuums? We worry a good bit. While the live-streaming HD camera that can move around your house to keep an eye on things may sound handy, it could also be hacked and used to move around your house to spy on you. Fortunately, Ecovacs has protected their robot vacuum with the HD camera with very strong encryption which is hard to hack and the app is password-protected. So hopefully your little roving robot won't ever get hacked and spy on your ankles.