Warning to all Ring Doorbell owners – three settings to check today
WHILE ring doorbells help protect your home, they come with risks, experts say.
Footage recorded by Ring can be distributed and even hacked without your consent if users aren’t careful.
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Prevent people from viewing your Ring recordings without permission
Footage captured by Ring cameras can be turned over to the police or anyone who requests it at any time—and without your consent.
Amazon, which reportedly bought Ring in 2018 in a deal reportedly worth more than $1 billion (£830 million), stores all the footage on its servers.
And if it’s requested by the police or anyone else, Amazon can then pass it on.
Paul Bischoff, consumer privacy advocate at comparison site Comparitech, told The Sun: “This gives police sweeping surveillance powers to peek through someone’s ring doorbell without investing a penny in surveillance infrastructure.
“The potential for abuse of power and state encroachment is high.”
End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) is an opt-in feature that adds additional layers of protection to video and audio recordings created by Ring devices.
To set it up, owners need to make sure their Ring app is updated to version 5.34 or later.
Next go to control center > video management > Advanced settings > End-to-End Encryption and type got it on the list of disabled features.
Then strike Getting started and follow the in-app instructions to register your account for end-to-end encryption.
“Users can prevent law enforcement and other third parties from accessing their Ring video by enabling end-to-end encryption,” added Bischoff.
“E2EE ensures that only registered mobile devices can decode and display videos. Not even Amazon can view your encrypted video. However, note that E2EE is not an option for all Ring models.”
It is currently only available on devices with software running iOS 12 and Android 9 or higher.
The feature is also not supported by battery-powered Ring video doorbells and cameras.
Make sure your WiFi connection is private and secure
If your WiFi connection isn’t private, the risk of your Ring Doorbell being hacked is much higher.
Chris Hauk, consumer privacy advocate at cybersecurity blog Pixel Privacy, told The Sun: “When setting up a camera like the Ring Doorbell Cam, make sure you’re using a secured connection to your WiFi network.
“If the doorbell isn’t connected to the network using a secure protocol, outsiders can access the ring’s video feed, download videos from your ring storage, or use the ring to tap into your network.”
You might even want to go one step further and create a separate Wi-Fi network for your Ring device.
If you can create a second secure WiFi network from your router, it could protect your other devices like phones and laptops if you have a security breach from your smart home device.
It can also restrict access to other information on your network.
Protect your Ring Doorbell from outsiders
A feature known as two-factor authentication means you need more than just a password to access your account.
It helps limit the risk of a hacker trying to access your doorbell settings without your knowledge.
Two-factor authentication means that a six-digit code is sent to your smartphone, which you must confirm in the app after entering the password.
“Never use the doorbell’s default password, always set it to a secure and unique password,” explains Hauk.
“Also make sure you enable two-factor authentication on your doorbell login, this protects you from someone accessing your doorbell settings.”
You can enable this through the Ring website or in the Control Center section of the Ring app.
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https://www.thesun.ie/tech/10018997/warning-ring-doorbell-settings-you-must-check/ Warning to all Ring Doorbell owners – three settings to check today