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A smart security company owned by Amazon promised to provide customers with peace of mind, but instead allowed hackers to “invade and terrorize them” in their homes, a new nationwide class action lawsuit claims.
In a proposed lawsuit filed last Wednesday in the Central District of California Southern Division, plaintiff Catherine Foster said she was suing Ring for putting its customers at significant risk of harm through hacking, data breach and unauthorised sharing of personal identifying information.
If you were affected by a data breach, you might be eligible to join or file a class action lawsuit. Lawyers are currently investigating recent data breaches nationwide and the impact that they’ve had on Americans.
Ring provides customers with a line of home security items including doorbell cameras, motion detectors and lights that users can remotely access with their smartphones. It was acquired by Amazon in 2018.
However, despite purporting to sell products and services that keep your home safe, the company did the opposite, according to the class action lawsuit.
“Instead of helping families protect their homes, Ring’s devices—which were plagued with cyber-security vulnerabilities—have provided hackers a wide-open back door to enter the very homes the devices were supposed to protect,” the lawsuit stated.
Ring failed to protect consumers against ill-meaning hackers despite multiple previous breaches, according to the class action, referring to its updates as “tardy and insufficient.” Despite the data breaches and attacks, Ring still fails to protect customers from basic things like logins from different IP addresses and requiring customers to use strong passwords, the lawsuit said.
Foster said she wanted to hold Ring responsible for selling “defective, dangerous devices” and asked the court to order Ring to take measures to secure the privacy of user accounts and devices.
She also claims Ring has been sharing customers’ personal identifying information including names, private IP addresses, mobile networks carriers, persistent identifiers and sensor data with third parties without their consent, citing an investigation by privacy nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation.
“This data detailing user behavior is linked into a profile resulting in broad yet near perfect surveillance of practically all of someone’s interests, identities, and daily routines,” she said.
The data it provides to third party companies would at minimum would allow them to know when Ring users are at home or away.
“Ring could remove the personal identifiers in user data before sending it to third parties, but it does not,” the lawsuit states.
Foster pointed out that data harvesting is the fastest growing industry in the United States, and said Ring was compromising customer data to “serve its own selfish purpose of monetization.”
The lawsuit is suing Ring for negligence for failing to design and test its product to make sure customer information is adequately secure. It is also suing under state unfair competition law, breach of implied contract, and unjust enrichment.
Foster is asking a judge to certify the Class and award damages, restitution, interest, fees, costs and a jury trial. She is looking to represent a nationwide Class of customers who bought or signed up for Ring services.
Ring’s security compromises have made headlines in the past years due to the fact hackers have apparently been able to spy on and bother people through Ring technology.
Last year, the company was hit with multiple class action lawsuits after hackers were allegedly able to access customer’s Ring cameras and microphones in their homes, and use the tools against them.
In one case, homeowners Ashley LeMay and her husband Dylan Blakeley claim the camera started live streaming and a song featured in horror film Insidious began to play via the two-way talk feature of the device. Then, a hacker started talking to their eight-year-old daughter, shouting racial slurs at her, the lawsuit states.
In another case, parents John and Jennifer Politi said their son told them he heard a male voice “calling out from the first floor asking if anyone was home.” The next night, the children said they heard a male voice humming an ominous tune. The Politis eventually said they tracked the voice to the Ring camera and microphone after the voice told them to “come here,” and unplugged it.
Would you feel safe using a smart home security system like Ring? Let us know in the comments!
The proposed class is represented by Deepali Brahmbhatt, Timothy Devlin, Robert D. Kiddie Jr. and Robyn Williams of Devlin Law Firm LLC.
The Ring Home Security Hacker and Data Class Action Lawsuit is Catherine Foster v. Ring LLC, Case No. 2:21-cv-02175, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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77 thoughts onRing Security System Lets Hackers ‘Terrorize’ Families in Their Homes, Lawsuit Claims
Add me
Add me I got rid of mine because I had someone I kept hearing call my name and found out its was on my ring
Add me please. I have a yearly subscription with ring.
Thank you
Add Me!
Please add me