An update and some thoughts about the toothbrush fiasco

We did cover the fact that the toothbrush fiasco was just a story that was just one of those that could possibly happen.

But Kevin has a very interesting take on the whole thing. He is boosted by a follower.

Steve Mann: Boosting Kevin Beaumont (GossiTheDog): During the whole toothbrush botnet thing, people said ‘yes, the story is fake but it COULD happen’.

Almost every smart toothbrush uses Bluetooth so no, it could not.

Somebody pointed me towards one on Amazon which says it uses wi-fi, so I ordered it and investigated.

The toothbrush only has Bluetooth. The charger uses wi-fi – but has no open TCP or UDP ports. Traffic is outbound only, TLS 1.3.

So no, it was just total nonsense.

While I respect Kevin,I think that at some point, something like that story could come true. And while the news he shares here is great news, we know that devices have been made poorly and could probably do what the false toothbrush story did share.

I think that story was a great thought piece, and I called it only because of its operating system being so old that it isn’t used because it isn’t an operating system anymore.

Thanks Kevin for confirming that we do not have anything to worry about in regards to our toothbrushes, even the smart one.

Search tooth brush for other coverage including the first report that started it all. It is something worth reading, even though it was a fictional story.

It could, some day, happen. Maybe not now, but like Big Brother in 1984, its a possibility.

Let’s hope it stays a long shot posibility. Like, past our lifetime. I don’t want to write about it.