In mainland China, aquarium enthusiasts have recently reported that the Walda Aquarium Smart Power Strip suddenly experienced a power outage, leading to the death of ornamental fish and corals. One hobbyist stated that all 19 fish in their care died, with a total purchase price exceeding 86,000 yuan.
Walda claimed to have been hacked and responded on October 14th that the company had reported the incident and had the case “being filed” and is currently cooperating with the investigation. Regarding compensation, the company stated that they are in negotiations with customers to seek compensation for some of the losses, and mentioned that some customers have already been compensated. However, they did not disclose the specific compensation standards, amounts, and the number of affected users.
Walda is a brand under Shenyang Walda Technology Development Co., Ltd., and its smart power strip allows remote control of power supply to aquarium equipment such as water pumps and lights through a mobile application or mini program.
According to a report by China News Weekly on October 14th, hobbyist Su Xiang (pseudonym) had three aquariums with ornamental fish in his office. On the morning of October 1st, he found that 19 ornamental fish in two of the tanks had died, with a total purchase price exceeding 86,000 yuan. After the smart power strip experienced a power outage, the water circulation system stopped, causing a lack of oxygen in the aquarium.
Su Xiang stated that after submitting the payment records for purchasing the fish to customer service, they only offered to reissue a smart power strip. He did not accept and has already instructed a lawyer to send a letter.
Ms. Zhuge from Shandong also stated that she found that dozens of fish and over twenty species of corals had died on the morning of October 1st. The initial investment alone exceeded 20,000 yuan, and as she had been cultivating them for over a year, the specific losses were difficult to estimate. The other aquariums in her home that used different branded power strips were not affected.
On October 1st, Walda issued a notice stating that around 8:30 pm on September 30th, the server had been maliciously invaded, resulting in abnormal disconnection and power outages for some user devices. The company stated that this was not a product quality or operational issue, but rather was caused by “irresistible external factors.”
Walda also mentioned that they would implement a new offline backup mechanism and optimize the local offline protection logic of the equipment.
Some users have mentioned that after the power strip automatically shut down, they were unable to restart it through the mini program. Even after the server was restored, the devices did not automatically resume power supply.
It was reported that on October 5th, the Shenyang police accepted the company’s report, citing it as a case of disrupting computer information systems. The relevant cybersecurity department stated on October 13th that the case is still in the initial investigation stage, and details cannot be disclosed.
Cybersecurity professional Li Mu analyzed with China News Weekly that remote control of smart power strips requires connection to the backend server. If Walda was indeed hacked, once the cloud control server was invaded, attackers could remotely shut off the power or perform other operations on users’ power strips through the server.
Bai Yang, a lawyer from Beijing Hengdu (Shenzhen) Law Firm, told Times Finance that the risk of network attacks on internet-connected devices is foreseeable, and hacking attacks do not constitute force majeure. Companies cannot use this as a reason to exempt themselves from compensation liability.
Several lawyers have stated that whether a product is beyond the warranty period, and whether responsibility should be taken for damages caused by product defects are two different concepts.
The incident has sparked discussions among netizens, with some Weibo users describing it as the “nightmare of fish enthusiasts.”
Some netizens are also concerned that similar risks may also involve smart door locks, cameras, and robotic vacuum cleaners in their homes.