Ring fires four employees for abusing access to customer videos
Santa Monica, California — Amazon's home security system Ring is under new scrutiny after four of its workers were fired for snooping on customers' videos.
Ring's do-it-yourself video security system has helped catch porch pirates and connect clever kids with their parents. But it's quick rise in popularity has exposed major cracks in its security. This time, parent company Amazon admitted Ring's own employees have abused their access.
Amazon, responding to security concerns raised by U.S. senators, revealed that, "over the last four years, Ring has received four complaints," going on to say they "promptly investigated" and "terminated" each individual. Amazon said the employees were authorized to view personal moments from your home cameras, but their private access "exceeded what was necessary for their job."
It's unclear whether the employees accessed live or stored video. Ring saves video for up to six months at the request of the customer.
The announcement comes as Ring also battles external hackers and targets include children like one 8-year-old in her own bedroom. Video of someone talking to that child made the CEO cry, said CNET's Ben Fox Rubin.
"Ring is without a doubt in crisis management mode right now. There's no doubt in my mind about that," he said.
Ring said they're reducing the number of employees who have access to stored videos to just three people. They also said they're changing the default settings on all of their new cameras to prevent hacking.
