How to Stop Hackers from Breaching IoT Home Surveillance Cameras Like Ring

IoT doorbell cameras are nuisance hackers’ new playground, and people are freaked out. Do you need to ditch your Ring or Nest? If you set up a few simple security precautions, probably not.

Reports: Hackers are Breaching Ring Cameras

Reports are rolling in from all corners of the country: hackers are breaking into internet-of-things (IoT) home surveillance systems, and some of the stories are downright scary.

Take the Ring breech story out of Mississippi. Hackers hijacked a Ring camera mounted inside an 8-year-old girl’s room and spewed racial epithets at her while pretending to be Santa Claus. And then there was the story of a hacker who commandeered a Florida man’s Ring system and taunted said man about watching him during intimate moments. There’s even a podcast that broadcasts the stolen audio from hacked Ring feeds!

In response to a WIRED inquiry, Ring explained:

“Our security team has investigated this incident and we have no evidence of an unauthorized intrusion or compromise of Ring’s systems or network. … Upon learning of the incident, we took appropriate actions to promptly block bad actors from known affected Ring accounts and affected users have been contacted. Consumers should always practice good password hygiene and we encourage Ring customers to change their passwords and enable two-factor authentication.”

It’s All about the Passwords

Should you use an IoT doorbell or home surveillance system? Sure, but activate all the login bells and whistles. As Ang Cui, founder of digital security firm Red Balloon, succinctly stated: “[I]f we insist on making our doorbells a computer that connects to the Internet, then we have to put the same level of care into securing those computers.”

Poor password maintenance is at the root of the Ring hacks. The system itself isn’t hackable, but if pranksters or worse can guess your password, they can login to your system.

How would people be able to guess your login:

1.  It’s easy to guess;
2. They have information about your address or birth date and that’s what you use for login credentials;
3. You use one login and password across all devices and it was exposed in an unrelated security breech.

IoT Camera Doorbells Best Practices

Basic personal security measures go a long way. To keep hackers at bay:

1. Activate two-factor authentication on all devices and accounts;
2. Establish a good password updating habit;
3. Don’t reuse passwords and usernames;
4. Use “pass phrases” instead of passwords because they’re much more difficult to crack;

IoT doorbells can be useful, but they’re also sensitive-data depositories. So be careful and take every precaution.