Ring camera hacks show the need for better IoT security
Ring camera doorbells gained fame for catching porch pirates steal packages but after several high-profile cases where hackers gained control of them they are being held up by the cybersecurity industry as a prime example why companies and homeowners need to take IoT security seriously.
The Ring cases revolve around malicious actors hijacking these devices and using them to communicate with people inside the home. In an incident in Mississippi a malicious actor used an internal Ring camera to talk to a young girl using racial slurs and back in October another hacker gained control of a Nest camera and threatened to kidnap a baby.
It is believed in each case the malicious actors took advantage of the device’s poor security to gain access. In the case of the Ring camera, which his owned by Amazon, the company recommended to those buying or who already have a Ring to not reuse old passwords and to implement MFA to make it more difficult to hack.
