7 Everyday Devices That Spy on You More Than Help You

We all know that mobile phones, smartwatches, or smart speakers double as very effective tools for spying. That part isn’t news. Unfortunately, those are neither the most dangerous nor all of them. Some of the devices on this list can take pictures whenever they want, not whenever you want, while others upload so much data in a day that even a server would start sweating.

Below are the devices that know more about you than your own diary does, what they collect, and how that gets used against you.

1. Smart refrigerators

Smart refrigerators are a classic case of give with one hand, take with both. They might offer features like mobile app control, touchscreens, digital shopping lists, inventory tracking, and other similar basic functions. But by giving that much, they end up knowing when you are home or away, your eating habits, household occupancy patterns, medical conditions, financial condition, or even family changes based on long-term usage trends.

2. Cars

Modern cars are more computers than vehicles. In a single day, a car collects anywhere from 20 to 100 GB of data. For comparison, a smartphone collects 1 to 5 GB per day. This data includes recorded voice commands, biometric information like eye movement or facial expressions, phone contacts synced via Bluetooth, and even in-cabin audio if the microphone is active. It is sent to manufacturers’ cloud servers, which then analyze it or sell it to third parties like insurance companies and advertisers.

In Florida, a Cadillac owner, Romeo Chicco, had his insurance application denied by seven companies, and the one that did accept him offered twice the rate of his previous coverage. All this happened because OnStar, GM’s telematics system, transmitted detailed driving data like trip times, distances, and hard braking events to data brokers and insurance companies without his consent. You can read more about this here.

3. TVs

Many TVs come with built-in cameras and microphones for video calls or voice control, which you might think are only activated when you want, but that’s not true. They can activate at any time to monitor who is in the room, their facial expressions, or conversations. TVs are also much more vulnerable to cyberattacks, as they lack many of the security features and attention from manufacturers, app stores, and security researchers that smartphones and PCs typically receive.

In 2025, malware called Vo1d infected around 1.6 million Android TV boxes, which attackers used to mine cryptocurrency and perform click fraud. This not only compromised personal data but also increased energy consumption and electricity usage as a byproduct. Link

4. Robot vacuum cleaners

Robot vacuum cleaners are packed with sensors, cameras, microphones, and mapping technology to navigate your home efficiently. To do this, they create a detailed floor plan of your house, recording room layouts, furniture placement, and movement patterns. Of course, all this is necessary for a vacuum to function properly, but when you combine connectivity and cloud storage, it becomes a privacy hell.

In 2025, a security engineer, Harishankar Narayanan, found out that an iLife A11 vacuum was constantly communicating with a remote server in China, transmitting home-mapping and log data. When he blocked those connections, the vacuum stopped working. He then took it apart, only to discover an unsecured Android Debug Bridge and a hidden backdoor in the firmware, which allowed anyone with access to gain full root control over the device and control it remotely. Logs from the vacuum showed that someone had issued a command to disable the device when he blocked the telemetry. (Source: His blog)

5. Thermostats / Smart thermometer

These devices are much simpler than others we have listed here, but they pack the same punch when it comes to risk. Their functionality is simple: monitor temperature. But they also send that data back to servers, and that is what makes them risky. Because they are built to be cheap and low power rather than secure and regularly updated, they often lack proper authentication, encryption, and basic security protections, making them an easy target.

According to Darktrace CEO Nicole Eagan at WSJ CEO Council event, attackers targeted an unnamed casino by hacking a smart aquarium thermometer. They then moved from the breached device and infiltrated the whole casino’s systems, eventually locating and stealing the high-roller database, which was exfiltrated out through the same thermostat to an external server. Link

6. Garage door openers

If you read every point before this, you’ve probably understood that the real problem isn’t really the data being collected, but the network connectivity that sends it outside your home. Devices are made to rely on constant wireless connections to function, and it is this connectivity that opens the door for attackers.

In Australia, some thieves managed to clone garage door signals and sneak into houses without alerting anyone. They then proceeded to steal the Nissan X-trial parked inside and drove away within minutes without leaving a trace, except obviously the car itself. (7News)

7. Washing machines

I guess you get the drill by now. At the end of the day, these devices are all the same problem disguised in different ways, causing harm in different manners. In the case of washing machines, they collect data like usage patterns, cycle preferences, and connectivity logs, which are very similar to what we’ve seen before, so the potential disruptions are similar. But the incident here is an interesting one.

In 2023, five washing machines at the Spinoza campus in Amsterdam were hacked. Attackers decided to use them to let students do laundry for free for weeks. The housing provider had no choice but to shut the machines down, after which 1,250 students were stuck with a few old, cranky washers. Needless to say, laundry day quickly turned into a battle of patience and long lines.(FOLIA)