Yarbo says it will remove the intentional backdoor from its robot lawn mower

"Yarbo now plans to completely remove the remote backdoor access that could have let bad actors reprogram the robot over the internet. Yarbo customers will be able to decide whether that feature even gets installed in the first place, co-founder Kenneth Kohlmann pledges to The Verge."

"Yarbo had already promised on Friday that it would tackle many security issues head-on, closing the holes that let security researcher Andreas Makris easily hijack any of the bladed robots from the other side of the globe, while also exposing email addresses and GPS locations."

"But when it came to the most concerning vulnerability, Yarbo stopped short at the time. The company said it would keep a remote backdoor open so "authorized internal company personnel" can help remotely troubleshoot devices - only now with more protections around it."

"Shouldn't Yarbo's customers get to decide whether their robots have a persistent backdoor at all? When we asked last week, the company initially suggested the answer was no. "Completely removing remote diagnostic capability would reduce our ability to help customers resolve safety, connectivity, and service issues quickly, especially in cases where physical ins"

Yarbo’s robot lawn mower company plans to eliminate remote backdoor access that could allow bad actors to reprogram robots over the internet. Yarbo previously addressed multiple security problems, including vulnerabilities that let a researcher hijack robots remotely and issues that exposed email addresses and GPS locations. For the most serious vulnerability, Yarbo had kept a remote backdoor available for “authorized internal company personnel” to troubleshoot devices, but with added protections. After questions about customer control, Yarbo now says customers will be able to decide whether the feature is installed at all. The change aims to reduce persistent remote access while maintaining support for safety, connectivity, and service needs.

Read at The Verge