A federal grand jury in California has indicted two men who may be responsible for a nationwide “Ring Rotter” that targeted Ring security cameras, including the Chicago area.
According to the indictment, Kaya Christian Nelson, aka “Chumlur” from Racine, Wisconsin, and James Thomas Andrew McCarty, aka “Aspertaine” from Charlotte, North Carolina, hacked dozens of ring cameras and Made a fake emergency call to law enforcement. They could often see armed reactions. They have also been accused of live-streaming the event on social media.
The case, which the Justice Department revealed this week, involved Nelson allegedly accessing a ring doorbell camera and using it to verbally threaten and taunt a West Covina police officer who responded to the reported incident. It claims a specific attack on a home in West Covina, Calif.
The indictment alleges that other similar ring-related swatting incidents occurred in Flat Rock, Michigan. Redding, California. Billings, Montana. Decatur, Georgia. Chesapeake, Virginia. Rosenberg, Texas. Oxnard, California. Darien, Illinois. Huntsville, Alabama. Northport, Florida. Katie, Texas.
Cyrus Walker of Chicago-based Data Defenders LLC says it’s not difficult to protect your home from this kind of hack, but you have to deal with not just the cameras, but the Internet network that allows them to connect to each other and to the outside world. said there is a need.
“One of my recommendations is to make sure your wireless network is as secure as possible,” Walker said.
He recommends using strong passwords and setting up your wireless router to not broadcast your SSID or Service Set Identifier. The SSID acts as a beacon to help others find your network. He also recommends that users enable encryption to the maximum and segregate networks into a private his network and a guest network.
Walker also recommends changing your default security login and password as soon as you bring your new device home.
“The device you bought, and the device someone else bought, has the same default settings. When you crack the tape in that box and plug it in, the first thing you do is enter the username and password for that device. It’s about changing it and allowing access to that device at that point,” Walker said.
Recent swattering incidents prompted the FBI to require users of smart home devices with cameras and voice capabilities to use complex, unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication to protect against swattering attacks in the second half of 2020. We are now issuing a public service announcement urging you to:
