A stranger managed to gain access to a Mississippi family's Ring security camera and used its speaker to harass their 8-year-old daughter, telling her he was Santa Claus and encouraging her to destroy her room.
Ashley LeMay, the girl's mother, told WMCthat she installed the security camera in her children's room so she could monitor them during her hours as a nurse.
The violation occurred just 4 days after the camera was installed in the girls' room. On that day, she was out of the house while her husband was at home with their daughters.
When her daughter Alyssa heard noises coming from her room, she went to see what it was. According to the Ring camera footage, the girl can be seen standing nervously in her room while the song “Tiptoe through the Tulips,” which was featured in the horror film “Insidious,” can be heard playing on the camera.
When Alyssa heard a man's voice over the security camera's speaker and asked who he was, he replied, "I'm your best friend, I'm Santa Claus. Don't you want to be my best friend?"
WMC reported that the hacker continued to harass the girl, mock her, and encourage her to destroy her room.
Ring's response
According to CNN, Ring said the hacker did not gain access through a data breach or breach of Ring's security, but likely exploited the family's weak account security.
As the company notes, many of its customers “often use the same username and password for multiple accounts.” If those credentials fall into the wrong hands, those devices could be compromised.
“As a precaution, we encourage all Ring users to enable two-factor authentication on their Ring account, add shared users (rather than sharing login credentials), use strong passwords, and change their passwords regularly,” the company said.
Ashley told WMC that she had not enabled two-factor authentication on her device.
How to protect yourself from these types of attacks
There are some steps you can take to protect your account from such attacks.
The first step is to use strong passwords to strengthen the security of your systems.
Change your default password and avoid using phrases or dates that are important to you, such as birthdays or the names of relatives.
Use a password manager to store your various passwords and easily find them when you need to use them.
Two-factor authentication also adds an extra layer of security to your accounts.
