Your Doorbell Can Be Hacked: Here’s How to Protect It

What if your doorbell starts ringing by itself in the middle of the day or someone starts talking to you or your children through the camera? No, it’s not a ghost! Your Ring doorbell has been hacked. Ring doorbells have always had a fair share of its security issues that have haunted the users.

In December 2019, Ring was in the news when a hacker gained access to the doorbell and security camera of the bedroom belonging to an 8-year-old. He used to terrify her by talking to her through the camera. However, this whole thing was not hacking but the owner had set a weak password for the gadget.

Even though the security loophole that allowed hackers to gain access to the home network using Wi-Fi passwords has been fixed, it is wise to be aware of these situations. It is recommended to follow some security practices to protect your gadgets and yourself from the hackers in future.

Here we will discuss how hackers can hack your Ring doorbell and what all they can do after hacking the doorbell. Moreover, what are all steps you should follow to protect yourself from such haunting incidents?

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How Your Doorbell can be Hacked?

These are common ways that can get your Ring doorbell hacked:

Not creating strong passwords: Users do not set a strong password for the Ring account as well as the Wi-Fi network. Weak passwords can be cracked in minutes and as a result, hackers can break into your network. Some of the users even use passwords like 1’23456’ and ‘000000’ which is bait for hackers. Moreover, users also tend to reuse their passwords from other accounts and do not update their passwords regularly.

No encryption of data: When the doorbell is initially configured with Wi-Fi, a major security loophole can come into existence. If the data transferring between the device and the mobile application is not encrypted, it can cause a major security flaw in the network. Without encryption, the devices communicate using HTTP allowing hackers to easily access the data being transferred.

Also Read:How To Change A Wi-Fi Network In Windows 10 From Public To Private?

Risks and Security Issues

If by any chance your doorbell gets hacked, several security threats can occur:

Credential Stuffing

After a break-in, any hacker or unauthorized user can access your login credentials from the entire device connected to the network, and hence they can hack into other devices and accounts also.  If you have a habit of repeating your passwords across multiple accounts, your Ring Doorbell is susceptible to these attacks.

Hacking of Home Network

Any hacked network device, in our case Ring Doorbell, can act as an entryway into your network. Once your doorbell is hacked, hackers can easily compromise your smartphones, laptop, and other smart devices that are currently connected to the network.

Device Control

Once any of your devices in the network is hacked, the hackers can use it in any way they want to. They can try to terrify you by ringing your doorbell at late night and they can even use the camera to speak to you. Apart from being annoying and terrifying, these actions also pose a privacy risk for you.
What’s worse, they can even access your previous recording footage and even try to break in at the time when the house is empty.

Read: Tips For Making Your Smartphone More Safe And Secure

How to Protect Your Doorbell

Follow these tips to keep your Ring Doorbell secure from hackers.

Regularly update passwords

It is essential to update your password for all your devices and accounts regularly and never ever reuse your passwords. Not following these habits can get your account to fall prey to Brute Force Attacks.
You can use any of the password-generating services to keep your password secure in one place.

Enable Two-Step Verification

Most people are not aware that the Ring doorbell comes with an in-built Two Factor Authentication feature. You can enable this feature from the Ring Mobile app.
Once you enable it, you have to enter a six-digit OTP that is sent to your email address every time you try to log in.

Add a Shared User

Never share your ring login information with anyone, not even your family or friends. If you want to share your password with someone in an emergency, you can use the ‘shared user’ feature of the Ring Mobile App.

Do Not Share Footage

Do not share your Doorbell footage with anyone personally. Additionally, you should also avoid sharing the camera footage on any social media platform to safeguard your privacy.
Additionally, you should also delete your old security footage regularly to avoid it falling into the hands of hackers.

Read: Top 6 Security Blunders That Put Your Computer At Risk

Conclusion

With the advancement of technology, our privacy and security is always the one to suffer. Any modern gadget that is connected to the network is vulnerable to security threats. Ring doorbell is no exception and it can be compromised by hackers.
While the company is constantly trying to keep such security breaches in check, we should also follow certain guidelines from our end to secure our private information from attackers.
Read: Tips to Keep Your Kids Safe on the Internet