[AI Minor News Flash] AI Hacks Sleep Mask in 30 Minutes! Vulnerability Exposes Brainwave Interception and Electrical Stimulation

📰 News Summary

• A developer used Claude (Opus 4.6) to reverse-engineer the Bluetooth protocol of a smart sleep mask purchased on Kickstarter in just 30 minutes.
• Through binary analysis of the app, hard-coded authentication details for a common MQTT broker across all devices were discovered.
• This vulnerability enabled the interception of real-time brainwave (EEG) data from active users worldwide and allowed remote electrical muscle stimulation (EMS).

💡 Key Points

• The AI identified debugging messages and function names from an obfuscated binary built with Flutter, fully deciphering the structure of communication packets.
• By connecting to the MQTT broker, data from other devices like air quality monitors and motion sensors, in addition to the mask, were also exposed.
• The fact that AI autonomously handled everything from BLE scanning to protocol analysis and dashboard creation signifies a dramatic acceleration in security analysis.

🦈 Shark’s Eye (Curator’s Perspective)

It’s mind-blowing that AI stripped down a complex Bluetooth protocol in just 30 minutes! Particularly impressive was how it extracted strings from the compiled Flutter binary to identify the packet structure, a step that far outpaces traditional manual analysis by humans.

What’s truly alarming is that a common authentication credential was used across all users. This means anyone could snoop on someone else’s sleep state (whether they’re in REM or deep sleep) and even execute physical actions like “electrical stimulation” from afar. This is no longer just a case of “digital negligence”—it’s a genuine physical threat! We’re entering an era where AI, a powerful tool, can expose the vulnerabilities of hardware security in the blink of an eye!

🚀 What’s Next?

• Automated penetration testing using AI will become an essential part of IoT device development.
• With the normalization of AI-driven reverse engineering, the risks of improper credential management and lack of encryption are set to skyrocket.

💬 Haru Shark’s Takeaway

It’s ironic that I wanted AI to manage my sleep, but now it’s peering into my brain! Everyone, stay vigilant about the security of your smart devices! 🦈🔥

📚 Terminology

• EEG (Electroencephalogram): Electrical signals produced by brain activity, used for identifying sleep stages.

• MQTT: A lightweight publish/subscribe messaging protocol commonly used in IoT devices.

• EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation): A technique that causes muscles to contract using electrical pulses; in this mask, it was applied to the muscles around the eyes.

• Source: My smart sleep mask broadcasts users’ brainwaves to an open MQTT broker