A ‘HIGH severity’ app blunder put Ring doorbell video recordings at risk, it’s been revealed.
Tech giant Amazon quietly updated the Ring app for Android in May to fix the security slip-up.
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Experts sounded the alarm after they found a flaw that hackers could have used to install dodgy stuff onto a user’s phone.
This would have given cyber crooks a chance to grab personal data, geolocation, and camera recordings.
Ring is the world’s biggest video doorbell product in the world.
Its Android app has been downloaded over 10million times.
Thankfully, the firm was quick to roll out an update that patches the problem up.
Security researchers Checkmarx alerted Amazon on May 1 and a fixed app was put out by May 27.
Amazon said no customer data was exposed.
They believe it would have been “difficult” for anyone to actually pull off.
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If someone had managed to exploit it, victims would need to be tricked into installing a malicious app first.
Only then would a hacker be able to get hold of tiny files known as authentication cookies, which keep you logged in constantly instead of requiring passwords to be re-entered each time.
Once a cyber spy obtains these, they can root around in a person’s account without needing the password and can take any personal data stored on it, including video recordings.
“We issued a fix for supported Android customers on May 27, 2022, soon after the researchers’ submission was processed,” Amazon said.
“Based on our review, no customer information was exposed.
“This issue would be extremely difficult for anyone to exploit, because it requires an unlikely and complex set of circumstances to execute.”
The Ring app should have updated automatically on Android devices as soon as version 3.51.0 became available on May 27.
If you have automatic updates switched off, you should go to the Google Play Store and install the latest version immediately.
What is Amazon Ring?
Ring is a home security and smart home company owned by Amazon.
It makes smart home security products that you can access via your smartphone.
Ring’s most famous gadget is its smart doorbell.
It has a camera and microphone installed and acts like a remote peephole you can access from anywhere.
Ring also makes smart security cameras, smart locks for your door and more.
Amazon bought Ring for over $1billion (£760million) in 2018.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
