Automating your Aquarium

Lighting, filtration etc
Post Reply
User avatar
John G
Posts: 613
Joined: Tue Nov 25, 2003 1:06 am
Real Name: John Godbey
Location: Springfield, VA

Automating your Aquarium

Post by John G »

All of you who use, or are thinking of using, the internet to help automate your aquarium should read this article from the Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inn ... 78b4adea2f
John Godbey
Springfield, VA
Linus_Cello
Posts: 427
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2014 4:32 pm
Real Name: Linus Chen

Re: Automating your Aquarium

Post by Linus_Cello »

Favorite comment:
seismic-2
7/21/2017 1:18 PM EDT
Is this aquarium hack a new form of "phishing"?
sukrol
Posts: 373
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 3:46 pm
Real Name: Gabriel Andrade
Location: Montgomery Village, MD

Re: Automating your Aquarium

Post by sukrol »

Cannot see the article :/
Gabriel
User avatar
John G
Posts: 613
Joined: Tue Nov 25, 2003 1:06 am
Real Name: John Godbey
Location: Springfield, VA

Re: Automating your Aquarium

Post by John G »

sukrol wrote:Cannot see the article :/
It still works for me.
John Godbey
Springfield, VA
JLW
Posts: 718
Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2011 7:56 pm
Real Name: Joshua / Batfish
Location: Silver Spring

Re: Automating your Aquarium

Post by JLW »

Essentially, someone used a large marine aquarium's automated system -- something similar to an Apex (or possibly an Apex, its unspecified) -- to gain access to the local network, which happened to be a casino. They sent out a bunch of account information to an Eastern European address or something along the lines.

I'm going to repeat what I've posted elsewhere on it. A lot of us have internet enabled devices attached to the aquarium -- LED controllers, dosers, Apexes, even cameras. Make sure that these devices are secured -- change the password and login on them from their defaults. If possible, put them on a dedicated network that can't access your primary (all of my actually devices access the 5GHz wifi network. Stuff like my LEDs, my toy drone, etc., all get on the 2GHz). Also, make sure that you are securing your router -- learn how to log on, change the username and password. 90% of them use two or three combinations.

Not only does it cover your butt so that someone can't access your PayPal account thanks to an open door through your LED controller, it also prevents hackers from gaining access to your aquarium. I've seen several cases where presumably bored hackers gained access and just goofed around with settings. Oops, you're only dosing 50 mL of calcium per day? Now it's 500. No problem. In one case, I had a customer who had someone hack in and maliciously change settings on an automated water changer in order to cause a severe flood. They turned the leak detector off and adjusted the calibration so that the system added much, much more water than it removed. I know someone else who set up a "fish cam" with access to their automatic feeder, so they could feed the fish while on vacation. They (stupidly) shared the link on Facebook, and it got shared, and shared, and shared. Everyone watched their fish and fed them.... a month's supply of fish food in a couple of hours. Yea, secure that stuff, and don't share it.
><>
Post Reply

Sponsors