Trending Lyricist I

Speaker password feature needed ASAP!

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
August 12, 2018
85 replies
3004 views

Sonos please task one of your engineers with adding a password option to the Sonos system just like Apple has done with their Homepods!

Airplay2 is a game changer when it comes to an open system like Sonos because any device with Airplay2 capability can take control of a sonos system without intentionally installing the Sonos app. While this is convenient on some networks it is a royal pain in the arse for others.

Take my home network as an example. I have two wireless networks - one for the family and one for guests. The guest network has no access to Sonos which is great. But everyone on the family network can control any speaker in the Sonos system because there is no way to secure them. Unfortunately I can't put them on a separate subnet due to the shared media and backup servers. Sure, I ask them not to connect to certain speaker and groups, but they don't see the harm in having the house filled with their cool tunes while I'm at work. Can't really blame them but it causes problems with the neighbors and even me (sucks to ask Alexa to play CNN on a speaker and have it blaring close to full volume because someone forgot to turn it down).

BTW, this wasn't much of a problem before the Airplay2 update because none of the kids had the Sonos app installed on their devices but now they connect without a 2nd thought.

Please give us the option to protect speakers and groups of speakers.

Feature Request

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jgatie

The brain of each Sonos device is a network connected computer. Not a good thing to leave unsecured because we can't be sure our networks are secure, in fact it is better to assume the network is not secure and therefore secure each device connected to the network.

So tell me, how do you log into that network connected computer?

jgatie

Back to the OPs original question: lots of people with families or visitors would probably like to have some control preventing access to the speakers from anyone with the appropriate app. It’s a good suggestion on its own merits.

Addendum: Not every suggestion should be refuted nastily as an attack on Sonos.

I only attacked him because he was equating his lack of password protection for rooms/actions/volume within the Sonos app with a lack of security at the network level, which is nonsense. You can have all the passwords in the world at the app level, and still be insecure at the network level (and vice versa).

T

TreeGuyAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

So tell me, how do you log into that network connected computer?

There are more ways than I can count and many more that I've never heard of. It is a constant game of cat and mouse for the security industry.

https://www.wired.com/story/elaborate-hack-shows-damage-iot-bugs-can-do/

jgatie

There are more ways than I can count and many more that I've never heard of. It is a constant game of cat and mouse for the security industry.

https://www.wired.com/story/elaborate-hack-shows-damage-iot-bugs-can-do/

I don't need "more ways than I can count", I asked for one.

Just one.

Surely you can give me one way that you can log into a Sonos device in order to deliver mayhem.

And then when (If?) you give me one, explain how passwords for certain functions/rooms/volume in the app would prevent it.

T

TreeGuyAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

I only attacked him because he was equating his lack of password protection for rooms/actions/volume within the Sonos app with a lack of security at the network level, which is nonsense. You can have all the passwords in the world at the app level, and still be insecure at the network level (and vice versa).

I didn't equate them, you did. I'm pointing out that our networks are not as secure as we think (the attack vector is irrelevant). Therefore unsecured devices on our networks are wide open targets for hackers and other mischief makers.

chicks

So tell me, how do you log into that network connected computer?

There are more ways than I can count and many more that I've never heard of. It is a constant game of cat and mouse for the security industry.

https://www.wired.com/story/elaborate-hack-shows-damage-iot-bugs-can-do/

You didn't answer the question. Please name just ONE instance where a hacker has successfully obtained the root login for a Sonos device, logged in, and used it to do anything at all. I'll wait...

jgatie

I didn't equate them, you did. I'm pointing out that our networks are not as secure as we think (the attack vector is irrelevant). Therefore unsecured devices on our networks are wide open targets for hackers and other mischief makers.

So what does that have to do with a thread asking for passwords to prevent your kids from operating certain parts of Sonos? If you were not equating them, why mention it? And what is it about passwords for your kids at the Sonos app level that will "secure" those "unsecured" devices?

jgatie

You didn't answer the question. Please name just ONE instance where a hacker has successfully obtained the root login for a Sonos device, logged in, and used it to do anything at all. I'll wait...

Exactly. I worked on a Unix based POS system installed in hundreds of commercial properties once. We had dial-up support, and the system was protected by a randomized root password that changed at a variable time interval. Unless you had the PGP protected password generator installed on your support system and the private key, there was no way to log in, and no way to crack the root password before it switched.

I would be surprised if Sonos has anything less, considering that was 20+ years ago.

airforceteacher

Headliner I

And oh, btw,

jgatie

And?

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