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xkcd #3109: Dehumidifier (lemmynsfw.com)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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xkcd #3109: Dehumidifier

Title text:

It's important for devices to have internet connectivity so the manufacturer can patch remote exploits.

Transcript:

[A store salesman, Hairy, is showing Cueball a dehumidifier, with a "SALE" label on it. Several other unidentified devices, possibly other dehumidifier models, are shown in the store as well.]

Salesman: This dehumidifier model features built-in WiFi for remote updates.
Cueball: Great! That will be really useful if they discover a new kind of water.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3109/

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I have a separate IoT network. It's basically just a guest wifi for IoT. Anything coming in on that network gets a VLAN tag and only previous & established connections can get out. Honestly, it's kinda a pain in the ass with homeassistant because I keep HA on the other network so I have to manually find devices. It might be easier to just block it at the ip level or blacklist outgoing ip ranges to Tuya or whatever.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

I have HA on a separate VLAN from IoT devices and have set up mDNS reflection so it can find them.