A Bay Area family was terrified by a warning of a nuclear attack broadcasting from her security camera, but it turned out to be nothing but a hoax.
Orinda resident Laura Lyons told The East Bay Times that she heard a loud noise similar to what you'd hear during an emergency alert coming from her Nest camera, and then she heard a message that warned North Korean missiles were headed to Los Angeles, Chicago and Ohio.
Lyons said the message sent her, her husband and their 8-year-old son into a panic, according to the East Bay Times.
"We need to get in the car, we need to grab the dog, I wish we had more cash, which direction should we drive?," Lyons described her thought process at that moment to the newspaper.
Security experts say smart home devices that are connected to the internet can be vulnerable to hackers and Lyons' family isn't the first to experience it.
In December, a woman in Houston, Texas, said a man’s voice came through her Nest camera, and it said "I’m going to kidnap your baby. I’m in your baby’s room."
Internet-enabled cameras, speakers, TVs or even refrigerators are open to outside attacks, especially if security measures aren't taken during the set up of the devices.
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"Can we trust any of these? Personally, I always have problems trusting," said Fleming Shi, the Chief Technology Officer at Barracuda Networks, a security company based in Campbell.
Nest is owned by Google, which admitted that there had been an outside breach and that some of their devices may have been affected.
