Overheard a guy at the coffee shop say his ring doorbell got hacked and the hacker talked to his kid through it

That made me realize how many people just plug in smart home gear without even changing the default password, and now I'm wondering how many of you actually check the privacy settings on these things before setting them up?

3 comments

3 Comments

roberts.leo1mo ago

people get real worked up about this stuff but honestly how many times have you actually heard of someone's ring doorbell getting hacked? i bet it's like getting struck by lightning or something. leaving the default password on is dumb sure but the whole privacy panic feels overblown when most of these stories turn out to be some guy forgetting he gave his neighbor the password last year. idk maybe it's just me but i got better things to worry about than my security camera settings.

emery2901mo ago

Why would I waste time messing with privacy settings on some gadget that's supposed to just work out of the box. The whole point of buying a smart device is convenience, not sitting there digging through menus and changing passwords. If the company selling me this stuff doesn't have basic security built in, that's on them not me. And honestly, the guy getting hacked thing sounds like a freak accident. Millions of these things are sold every year and most people never have problems. All this fuss over one story is just paranoia. If someone really wants to talk to your kid they'll find a way, a better password won't stop a determined person anyway.

claire_young761mo ago

@emery290 "better password won't stop a determined person" - maybe not, but it'd stop the lazy ones who just try 'password123'.