Submitted via IRC for chromas
Online Forum Members Exploited Weak Credentials To Turn Ring Cameras Against Their Owners
To add to all the bad news that is Ring camera's lifecycle to this point comes the report that a group of malcontents has been exploiting default/weak credentials to gain access to cameras. Joseph Cox has the this-would-be-funny-if-it-weren't-so-scary details at Motherboard.
Hackers have created dedicated software for breaking into Ring security cameras, according to posts on hacking forums reviewed by Motherboard. The camera company is owned by Amazon, which has hundreds of partnerships with police departments around the country.
[...] There's not much actual hacking going on. What appears to be happening is purchasers aren't choosing unique passwords when they set up their cameras. They also aren't using the two-factor authentication Ring recommends.
There are enough cameras out there (and more being installed every day), there's an entire forum set up just for the hijacking of Ring cameras/doorbells. Forum members are selling exploit tools to each other which allow these jackasses to brute force Ring devices using credentials (usernames/email addresses and passwords) found elsewhere on the web.
The popular exploitables have even spawned a podcast featuring unsuspecting device owners being trolled by jerks who have gained access to Ring and Nest cameras. This is what's in store for device owners who haven't properly secured their new purchases.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday December 14 2019, @09:22PM (6 children)
Jackasses are the dumb shits who buy Internet of Things crap instead of rolling their own secure solutions.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday December 14 2019, @09:44PM (1 child)
People buy a house, and get a locksmith to install new locks, or at least re-key the existing locks.
Then buy an IoT device and don't even change the password.
Can people be educated, or is humanity doomed?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Informative) by BsAtHome on Saturday December 14 2019, @10:45PM
I have long ago given up on humanity. Every "Oh look, Shiny, Shiny..." causes the brain to turn off all sense of reason and stupidity prevails for a very large part of the human race. The IoT (see, Shiny, Shiny things!) trend is just one of the many examples. We may just want to get over it at, ignore the stupidity, and start creating a better parallel world. When that parallel world is done, it will be invaded and we can all again complain over all the same problems we have today. Rinse, repeat.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @11:02PM (3 children)
So you're parents bought you from the crack dealing mangy stork huh?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @11:42PM (2 children)
So YOUR parents didn't send you to school?
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @11:55PM (1 child)
Have you seen what conservative religious nutjobs have done to the education system?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 15 2019, @12:44AM
Yeah... The kids in the education system today don't know what gender they are or which bathroom to use.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @11:06PM (1 child)
The Ring cameras were already turned against their owners when they left the factory. By design. Because Google.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @11:08PM
Because Amazon... keep your supervillains straight.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by srobert on Sunday December 15 2019, @02:12AM (1 child)
When I saw the story on TV where the surveillance system in the little girl's bedroom was hacked I thought "Wow, it's really creepy that she's being watched by strangers over the internet." And then I thought "It's also creepy that parents think it's OK to put a surveillance camera in their kid's bedroom." If my parents did that, I'd have taken a hammer to it. But then I did my childhood in the 60's and 70's, so maybe my notions of privacy are a relic from another age.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 15 2019, @02:16AM
Millennial parents need to keep their children under 7x24 surveillance to ensure they don't change their gender.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 15 2019, @05:40AM (1 child)
I'm extremely anti-"smart" everything. I've mentioned to my family and friends multiple times that I refuse to enter a house that has Alexa or Google Home anything.
My girlfriend of nine years bought herself an Amazon Echo Plus speaker on Cyber Monday. She hooked it up and has been using it every day since. She loves it and raves about it, and is now looking to buy extra Echo dots and smart bulbs and God only knows what else.
I lost. Jeff Bezos won.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @01:41AM
If you're a geek, hack it so it behaves like shit, tell your gf you told her so and play the hero for the maiden in distress, buy her some jewelry or an expensive dinner. Don't give up.