According to a Los Angeles grand jury indictment, two people have been charged over a week-long, nationwide swatting spree. The accused seemingly made 12 hoax emergency calls and live-streamed the police response on social media in November 2020. The pair gained access to 12 Ring home security cameras across nine states by hacking Yahoo! email accounts.
Kya Christian Nelson, 21, of Racine, Wisconsin, and James Thomas Andrew McCarty, 20, of Charlotte, North Carolina were charged with conspiracy to access computers without authorization. The former was charged with two counts of intentionally accessing a computer without authorization and two counts of aggravated identity theft. He is also serving time in Kentucky in an unrelated case.
Regarding the matter, Ring issued a statement to Fox News Digital, saying;
Swatting is a serious crime, and those responsible for it should be brought to justice. ... We take the security of our customers extremely seriously—that’s why we made two-step verification mandatory, conduct regular scans for Ring passwords compromised in non-Ring breaches, and continually invest in new security protections to harden our systems. We are committed to continuing to protect our customers and vigorously going after those who seek to harm them.
The security and vulnerabilities of smart homes go hand in hand. With the proliferation of smart devices, the issue of targeted attacks for subversive objectives and stealing the treasure trove of personal information is becoming increasingly commonplace.
Although smart homes offer greater control and convenience, they are also vulnerable to data attacks including unlocking IoT-enabled doors and remotely controlling smart devices. A report by SAM Seamless Network indicated that one billion security-related attacks occurred in 2021 alone, out of which 900 million were IoT-related.
Via: Bloomberg