Molina, a security researcher from San Francisco, described this feat at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. His talk illustrated the perils of connecting dumb devices to the internet — the so-called internet of things — without first thinking about security.

Molina stayed at the five-star St. Regis hotel in Shenzhen, China. In the room, he found an iPad. It controlled all of the features of the room, such as the drapes, temperature, television, and lights. He investigated the device and found he could easily hack it.

“I controlled 200-plus rooms of a five-star hotel by abusing an insecure home automation protocol,” Molina said