The three researchers demonstrated the ease with which a Nest thermostat can be compromised if an attacker has physical access to the device. In less than 15 seconds, an attacker can remove the Nest from its mount, plug in a micro USB cable, and backdoor the device without the owner knowing anything has changed. The compromised Nest can then be used to spy on its owner, attack other devices on the network, steal wireless network credentials, and more.