Law enforcement officials say two men from Wisconsin and North Carolina successfully hacked more than a dozen Ring “smart” surveillance cameras connected to the Internet. They openly mocked the police officers, and the result of their “prank” was broadcast live on social networks.

what is known

US authorities have already filed criminal charges. The investigation reported that Kia Nelson, James Thomas Andrew McCarthy, and a third unnamed accomplice used a simple scheme to hack the cameras:

• At first, they used their own method to find victims’ usernames and passwords from Yahoo mailboxes.
• It was then determined whether the owner of the compromised account had a Ring record using the same credentials.
• If the answer is positive, the hackers took control of the camera and gathered more information about the owners of the device.

After a successful hack, the attackers made calls to the emergency services under various pretexts. It would seem that the reasons were chosen for serious reasons – so that the special forces would come to the victim’s house.

It is reported that the attackers may have carried out 11 similar attacks in the same week. Incidents have been reported across the United States.

Nelson (already imprisoned for another case) and McCarthy are now charged with conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers and commit aggravated identity theft. It is not yet clear what punishment they will receive.