Ring's employees watched private customer videos; now fired
What's the story
Ring, the Amazon-owned company that makes home security cameras and doorbells, has admitted that four of its employees viewed personal videos of its customers beyond what they were allowed/permitted to. The company made the shocking revelation in a letter sent to US senators while emphasizing that the employees in question have now been fired. Here's all you need to know about the fiasco.
Issue
Employees viewed videos of customers, for no apparent reason
After US senators raised questions over the practices followed by Ring to maintain the security of its devices, the company informed about the security lapse made by its employees. It said over the last four years, four employees authorized to view video data were caught violating company's policies by accessing or trying to access data that "exceeded what was necessary for their job functions".
Action
Ring investigated each case, fired employees
Ring asserted that the employee violations were reported through four different complaints, and it investigated each one of them before firing the accused employees. "In each instance, once Ring was made aware of the alleged conduct, it promptly investigated the incident, and after determining that the individual violated company policy, terminated the individual," the company said in the letter.
Steps
Then, they took additional steps to limit data access
Along with terminating those workers, Ring also took steps to restrict its employees' access to video data. Currently, the company says, only three employees have access to stored customer videos. Plus, there is an R&D team in Ukraine that can access videos but only those that are public or have been consented by their colleagues, contractors, friends individually.
Problems
Ring has been involved in several security issues lately
Ring's revelation comes as it continues to face flak for several security lapses. Last year, the company was caught making camera footage available to local police and just recently, multiple users' Ring ID-passwords were leaked in an online database. In fact, some users were even harassed by hackers who managed to break into their Ring account and gain access to private videos.