Following several well-publicized hacking incidents and outcry from privacy advocates about its app sharing user information with third parties, video doorbell maker Ring last week announced that it will offer additional account security for all of its customers.
Ring, which is owned by tech and retail giant Amazon, said that while two-factor authentication was already an option provided to all customers, it is now making a second layer of verification mandatory for all users when logging into their accounts. Now every time a user logs into their account, they will receive a one-time, six-digit code to verify the attempt.
In addition, Ring announced that it would be “temporarily pausing” the use of most third-party analytics services in the Ring app and website while they work to provide customers with more abilities to opt out in its Control Center. The company also said that customers can now opt of sharing their information with third-party service providers for the purpose of receiving personalized ads.
“Your account safety and security is our priority. We will stay vigilant and continue to give you more transparency and control over your devices and personal information, and help keep your home and Ring account secure and protected,” Ring President Leila Rouhi said in the statement announcing the new safeguards.
Though it acknowledged the moves as a “good step forward,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), one of the civil liberties groups that has levied privacy criticisms against Ring in the past, said there are still a number of reforms the company should undertake if they want to address the “fundamental problems” the group says their technology poses.
Among the moves the EFF said the company should make include ending its rapid expansion of law enforcement partnerships across the country; implement measures that require warrants to be issued to device owners for law enforcement to gain access to footage; put limits in place for sharing of video between law enforcement agencies; adjusting default settings to turn off automatic audio recording when the camera is motion activated; and, not integrate facial recognition software into its cameras under any circumstances.
“Ring is creating an environment where every time a person walks down a public street, their movements are being recorded, stored, and made accessible to a whole host of individuals, law enforcement agencies, and Amazon. Ring’s technical reforms will better guard the security of customers, but do little to address the bigger threats to privacy that Ring poses,” the EFF wrote in a statement.
The announcement by Ring also comes as an increasing number of consumers are clamoring for increased cybersecurity protections from their home security providers. According to a recent survey conducted by ADT of more than 1,200 U.S. consumers, 92% of respondents said that smart home security companies need to take measures to protect consumers’ personal data and information. Among the top cyber concerns reported by survey respondents were hacking (75%), followed by government spying on in-home smart cameras (53%) and smart speakers (52%).
The survey also uncovered that when it comes to how personal information is shared, consumers tend to be more concerned about how governments (89%) and companies (93%) share their personal information than they are about how they share their own personal information on social media (86%). Additionally, despite acknowledging the importance of privacy protocols, most consumers do not use privacy measures available to them; in fact, fewer than 40% of survey respondents reported having any data privacy measures in place at all.
