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disturbing experience / possible hack on our sonos arc

  • 2 November 2023
  • 11 replies
  • 613 views
B

it was early morning and we just turned on morning shows for our kids when all of a sudden the tv sound turned off and the Sonos voice (or one similar) said in a deep male voice on the arc  “hello?… hello?… I know you can hear me.. you see we’ve known each other for..” and then I just impulsively said ALEXA STOP. Our young daughter was there and I was livid that a tv / speaker system that we trust in our family and around our children would let in such unwelcome energy. I have no idea where that voice came from and I’m disturbed to think what else would have been said in front of my kids if I wasn't there to stop it. I looked it up and its not the beginning of a song, it wasn't something accidentally played on our spotify, and it definitely didn't sound like a random response to a command. so it sounds like a hack to me. I’ve see Sonos hacks in other online forums but not a ton. Has anyone else heard of or experienced this? 

Home (sound systems) are supposed to be a safe place. I am deeply upset by this. 

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Best answer by Ken_Griffiths 2 November 2023, 10:39

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11 replies

Ken_Griffiths

It doesn’t sound like a Sonos Voice Assistant reply I’ve ever heard and I’ve use the assistant for quite some time (and Amazon Alexa too) - So I personally suggest changing your WiFi network password, just as a precaution and the Sonos account password too. Also ensure the equipment is not held in the DMZ, or on the WAN side of any 2nd router.

If the issue persists then immediately (within 20 minutes) take a Sonos system diagnostic report, as outlined in this link:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/141 …and note the reference number generated.

Then contact Sonos Customer Support via this link:

https://support.sonos.com/s/contact

Who will examine the report and hopefully discover the origin of the audio.

Hope that assists. 

ratty

Take a system diagnostic and post the reference number here. There may be clues in the logs.

You appear to have Alexa installed. Have you checked your activity history in the Alexa app?

K

I have used Echo devices for years and never had a sniff of anything like this, and because I use them for voice controlling my music, the mic on them is always on. However, since I do not have use for any other Echo features the communication option is disabled on all. That may be all you need to do.

ratty

The Echo communication features aren’t available with Alexa on Sonos. 

K

Ahh ok, then it can’t be someone pranking that easy way. Curious then, and it would be interesting to know what the cause gets identified to be.

B

We just plugged it back in for the first time today and it happened again, another super disturbing song started playing. It was vile - thank goodness our kids were in another room.  We changed our WiFi password but we hadn’t changed the sonos password yet. Maybe it will stop after the sonos password is changed but I’m tempted to chuck it out the window. 

B

We got the diagnostic report right after and will let you know what sonos customer service says. 

K

You need to either post the diagnostic number here or send it to customer support via email; only that completes this action.

A

I also got the same experience this evening a slow voice in Portuguese saying that was not Alexa but my personal assistant. What to do next?

Ken_Griffiths

I also got the same experience this evening a slow voice in Portuguese saying that was not Alexa but my personal assistant. What to do next?

See the advice above in this thread.

AjTrek1
Userlevel 7

This strangely resembles a DOS attack or actually the reverse (somehow)? Almost akin to “rickrolling”.

I assume there’s no one in the home who could have setup an announcement over Sonos with a disguised voice.

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