Jean-Louis Gassée:

You start with a basic Application Processor from Mediatek or one of its competitors. This gives you an ARM processor, a pared-down embedded Linux software engine, and a network stack — everything you need for Internet connectivity, with and without wires. Add your choice of sensors and drivers, hire a manufacturing contractor to assemble your security camera according to your own specs, and you’re in business.

And:

Your computer module suppliers have sold millions of identical building blocks to your competitors and other Consumer IoT dreamers: DVRs, smart locks, weather stations, lighting systems… Finished products are sold to technically unsophisticated consumers who ignore updates or forget their logins and passwords. The module makers have anticipated this predicament and designed in a backdoor, a login/password combination that allows tech support to remotely take control and make the user happy.

Yikes! A fascinating read. Jean-Louis does a nice job making this problem easy to follow. And he embeds one of my all-time favorite Joy of Tech cartoons to boot.