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THE SOTH JOURNAL

Security

Ideas, know-how, and a little inspiration for your connected home.

WORTH A CLOSER LOOK

Security

Door and window contact sensors: reed or Hall, gap, alignment and wired contacts

A contact sensor is the simplest device in a smart home, and it is still the one people most often mount wrong. Two pieces go on a door or window: a body with the electronics and a battery, and a smaller part with a magnet. When they are close, the sensor reports "closed". When the magnet moves away, it reports "open". Most problems come from those
Nov 3, 2026
7
min read

Intelbras Wi-Fi cameras could be kept offline by anyone on the same network

Kaspersky published research on November 2, 2026 showing that several Intelbras home Wi-Fi cameras accepted firmware update requests from anyone on the local network, without a password and without checking the file. Each request rebooted the camera and took it offline for about a minute. Sent in a loop, the requests kept it offline for as long as
Nov 2, 2026
3
min read

Synology warns that C3RB3R ransomware is encrypting NAS drives running DSM builds without the December 2024 fixes

Synology published a warning on 29 October 2026: attackers are exploiting a vulnerability the company patched in December 2024 to break into NAS drives running outdated versions of DSM, its operating system, then encrypt the data and demand a ransom. On 2 November BleepingComputer linked the attacks to the C3RB3R ransomware. Synology rarely issues
Nov 2, 2026
3
min read

Google and partners take down XCPE, a backdoor preinstalled on more than 1.3 million Android set-top boxes that took orders over MQTT

On 2 November 2026 Google Threat Intelligence said that last week it and its partners dismantled XCPE, a botnet built from more than 1.3 million Android set-top boxes in over 200 countries. The partners were Japan's National Police Agency, Lumen, HUMAN Security, Plume, Synthient and Trend Micro's TrendAI. Google says with high confidence that the b
Nov 2, 2026
3
min read

A second wave of attacks on supermarket refrigeration controllers hits stores in seven European countries

Supermarkets in Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland found their fridges and freezers warming up on the night of 1-2 November 2026. Inside some cabinets the temperature climbed to 50°C. It is the second wave in three weeks: on 11 October up to 700 supermarkets in France were hit the same way, with losses put at
Nov 2, 2026
3
min read

Seven WAVLINK routers and access points get command injection CVEs with public exploits and no fixes listed

Seven OS command injection vulnerabilities in WAVLINK routers, mesh units and access points were published on 1 and 2 November 2026. All of them came through VulDB, each links to a proof-of-concept write-up on GitHub (six of the seven by a researcher using the name pipiyyb), and each record says the exploit is public. The records say WAVLINK was co
Nov 2, 2026
3
min read

Code in HomeView Software 27.2 suggests Apple's smart display can work as a HomeKit Secure Video camera

Apple's HomeView smart display may get a second job as a security camera. Reddit user pdfu found settings text in HomeView Software 27.2 describing a mode that turns the display's built-in camera into a HomeKit Secure Video camera. AppleInsider and The Verge reported the find on 1 November 2026. Apple has said nothing about the feature, and HomeVie
Nov 2, 2026
2
min read

Homematic IP app 3.9.13 adds geofencing, CarPlay and Android Auto, while the Android rollout runs late

eQ-3 started rolling out version 3.9.13 of the free Homematic IP app on 27 October 2026. The update makes the system react to where people are, puts the app on car screens and adds a second way to regain admin access after a phone is lost. The iOS release is going to plan. eQ-3 says the Android release through Google Play is delayed and will be rol
Nov 2, 2026
2
min read