Ring Camera Hacking?
- Craig
- Dec 13, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 18, 2019
On my commute home this evening I saw this headline:
"Ring security camera hacks see homeowners subject to racial abuse, ransom demands".
You can read the article here:
While the story is disturbing, it also serves as a reminder of how poorly consumers understand the security risks associated with the technologies they use. So much of our lives are spent online. Whether its email, shopping, dating, or home security, there is almost always an online component involved. While the services and uses differ there is often one unavoidable commonality, the need to establish a username and password to use them.
And this is where the problem lies. Users, even Information Technology professionals are generally terrible at creating strong/unique passwords. I suspect, as the article eludes to, that the victims here either chose poor passwords, or reused passwords that were previously associated with prior breaches. If you don't have a plan for not only updating passwords when you become aware of a breach with one of your providers, but regularly changing them normally, you're going to get breached.
To minimize your risk of becoming a victim of a cyber breach due to a password issue I suggest 2 things. First, consider using a password manager, like LastPass. Yes, password managers have had issues as well, but there are advantages to employing one. Second, enable 2 factor authentication everywhere possible. Many services offer some form of 2 factor, and while there isn't one standard solution universally in use, its pretty easy to learn and adopt the options available. Check out https://twofactorauth.org/ for a helpful list of services offering 2 factor. One additional thing you can check out is https://haveibeenpwned.com/ . Yeah it sounds like a weird site, but this service will tell you when your email has been discovered as part of a breach and can act as an early warning system that its time to update your passwords.
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