IoT Ecosystem Assessment of a Smart Security Device

A pioneer in manufacturing smart video doorbells asked Payatu to assess its device's complete ecosystem, hardware, mobile app and cloud, before data leaks or IP theft could damage its reputation. Testing extracted the hardcoded keys encrypting mobile-to-cloud data and gained root access to the device through its debug interface.

IoT Ecosystem Security Assessment (Mobile, Hardware, Cloud)

At a glance

INDUSTRY

Consumer IoT / Smart Home Security

CLIENT PROFILE

A pioneer in manufacturing smart video doorbells

SERVICES

IoT Ecosystem Security Assessment (Mobile, Hardware, Cloud)

ENGAGEMENT

Full ecosystem assessment of a video-enabled smart doorbell

Key Takeaways

Client – A pioneer in manufacturing smart video doorbells, offering a Wi- Fi-connected, video-enabled device that lets owners interact with visitors through a mobile app.

Problem – The device's ecosystem pushes sensitive audio, video and image data to the cloud, and its firmware was vulnerable to cloning, putting both customer data and the client's intellectual property at risk.

What Payatu did – Ran a comprehensive assessment across the device's mobile app, hardware and cloud, extracting hardcoded encryption keys and gaining root access to the device through its debug interface.

Outcome – Delivered a risk mitigation strategy addressing the data leakage and IP theft paths uncovered during testing.

the challenge

Why the client called us in

Every visitor who rings this smart doorbell gets recorded, in audio, video, and images, then pushed straight to the cloud. A single leak of that footage could seriously damage the company's reputation. Its firmware was just as exposed: in the home automation market, any gap in the ecosystem's security could let a competitor walk away with the client's intellectual property and clone the device outright. Rather than test the doorbell, the app, and the cloud in isolation, the client brought in Payatu to assess the entire ecosystem at once.

Assess the security of data pushed from the device to the cloud
Determine whether the firmware could be extracted and cloned
Evaluate the mobile app's role in securing device-to-cloud communication

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scope of engagement

What was in scope

Mobile application security assessment
Device hardware and debug interface assessment
Cloud infrastructure assessment

Our Approach

How Payatu ran the engagement

01

Mobile Application Analysis

Analyzed the mobile app in detail and extracted the hardcoded keys used to encrypt data between the app and the cloud server.

02

Device and Firmware Assessment

Accessed the device through its debug interface, performed command injection on the serial console to gain root privileges, then extracted the firmware and used information leaked in it to compromise the cloud infrastructure.

03

Risk Mitigation

Based on the security breaches identified, delivered a risk mitigation strategy to the client.

Key findings

What we found

Data Encryption

Hardcoded keys used to encrypt data between the mobile app and cloud server were extracted from the application.

Device Access Control

The device's debug interface allowed command injection on the serial console, giving root privileges to an attacker.

Firmware and Cloud Exposure

Extracted firmware contained information leakage that could be used to compromise the client's cloud infrastructure.

the outcome

Results and Impact

With Payatu's comprehensive assessment of the device's mobile app, hardware and cloud ecosystem, the client was able to mitigate the data leakage and IP theft risks that could have led to reputational damage and significant financial loss from cloned products.

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