LockShare Updates Breaks Locks

The Internet of Things refers to previously "dumb" devices that now can connect through the Internet to do amazing things. One example of this is door locks for guest houses (like AirBnB.) The owner of a home can give a passcode to an individual which will get them through the front door. But no one wants all occupants to have access to every room, so internal door locks can be set individually. When a user's stay is over, the passcode is reset so that the individual is "locked out" after their stay ends.

All of that is fine and well except when an update goes bad. Recently the company "LockState" sent an update to all of its locks. Some locks, however, received bad code and stopped talking to the LockState servers. This makes the devices essentially inoperable. The only solution is to replace the locks.

Here is the message that the company had to send to owners of broken locks:

Credits:

• https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/08/500-smart-locks-arent-so-smart-anymore-thanks-to-botched-update/
• http://www.cetusnews.com/tech/LockState-Accidentally-Breaks-500-Smart-Locks-Often-Used-By-Airbnb-Hosts.HyX8uGayuW.html