Hackers are just on new levels of creepiness these days and now they’re taking things too far by messing with people’s children. A family claims someone hacked their Ring security system camera and harrassed their child.
It happened in Mississippi and this is just one instance in which hackers have figured out how to log into Ring accounts without the user’s knowledge, CNN reports. The irony clearly lies in that this invasion of privacy comes from the one thing the family purchased to protect them.
Ashley LeMay told CNN affiliate WMC that she installed the camera in her daughters’ room so she could watch over them while she works her overnight nursing shifts. “I did a lot of research on these before I got them. You know, I really felt like it was safe,” LeMay said.
Footage shows LeMay’s 8-year-old daughter Alyssa walk into her room after she hears noises. You can see her ask “Who is that?” before a man responds saying, “I’m your best friend. I’m Santa Claus…I’m Santa Claus. Don’t you want to be my best friend?”
WMC reported the unidentified person continued to harass the girl, taunting her and encouraging her to destroy her room.
“I watched the video and I mean my heart just like … I didn’t even get to the end where she is screaming ‘Mommy, mommy’ before I like ran inside,” LeMay said.
The intrusion reportedly happened just four days after LeMay installed her Ring system, when she was running an errand and her husband was at home with the kids.
Ring told CNN in a statement that the hacker did not gain access to the family’s system through a data breach or compromise of Ring’s security. Instead, the person likely took advantage of the family’s weak account security.
“Customer trust is important to us and we take the security of our devices seriously,” the statement said. “We have investigated this incident and can confirm it is in no way related to a breach or compromise of Ring’s security.”
According to the statement, Ring users “often use the same username and password for their various accounts and subscriptions.”
If those were to fall into the hands of hackers, those devices could be compromised.
“As a precaution, we highly and openly encourage all Ring users to enable two-factor authentication on their Ring account, add Shared Users (instead of sharing login credentials), use strong passwords, and regularly change their passwords,” the statement said.
Roommates, what are your thoughts on this one? Let us know!
