Ring Bolsters Security… But There’s Still Work To Do

In recent weeks, stories about Amazon’s Ring products being hacked have dominated headlines. The connected doorbells, cameras, and microphones have been used to spy on and harass consumers.

A big part of the problem is Ring’s poor security standards: The company doesn’t adequately protect consumers’ data, and has a bad track record managing vulnerabilities. Indeed, in Mozilla’s annual connected gift guide, readers ranked Ring products as “Super Creepy.”

Then, earlier this week, some good news: Ring announced new privacy and security features, like the ability to log out users on your account; transparency into its police department partnerships; and op-out, rather than opt-in, two-factor authentication (2FA). In December, Mozilla specifically urged Ring to require 2FA.

These are positive steps forward: privacy by default should be a baseline across the technology industry. But Ring -- and its parent company Amazon -- has more work ahead to protect consumers. For example: The opt-out 2FA rules only apply to new users; existing Ring users will remain opt-in. Ring executives say that’s because enabling 2FA across the board would temporarily log existing users out of their accounts. But we think that’s a small price to pay for privacy and security in your own home.

Are you an existing Ring user? Here’s how to turn on 2FA: