If you didn’t know it yet, your Ring smart home security hardware is not that secure when it comes to your privacy. It actually lets law enforcement have access to your videos if they wanted/needed to and if a user allows it. This has been a cause of concern for users who were aware of this and privacy interest groups and so now it looks like they’re finally acting on it. The company has announced that they are building a new section within the Ring app to improve the privacy and security settings for its devices.
According to Android Police, the Control Center will be rolling out later this month and it includes a notification when local law enforcement is accessing your videos through the Neighbors app. The fact that they have access at all is problematic and so you can now disable the sharing of those videos with the police. You can also see which devices and third-party services your Ring is connected to so you can review and remove any that you don’t want to give access to.
Two-factor authentication or 2FA is also now enabled by default, but only for new accounts that will be signing up. Existing users will not be required to migrate to that and it is not a mandatory setting. However, they only offer 2FA through a user’s SIM card, which is the most vulnerable of the other ways to use 2FA. Ring says they’ll be adding more options soon, so there’s that.
They also mentioned they will be adding more ways to easily view and control other privacy and security settings through the app but it sounds pretty vague and should have been there from the beginning. The good news is that now Ring users should start feeling a bit more secure now that the company is finally paying more attention to their users’ security. Hopefully, they’ll be adding more things soon.
Ring also announced some new products like the Ring Smart LED bulbs in A19 and PAR38 sizes, Ring Access Controller Pro so you can access your gate controls remotely, and three new solar lighting devices (a floodlight, stoplight, and pathlight).
UPDATE: Ring clarifies that law enforcement will only be able to access your videos if you allow sharing through the Neighbors app and not by default.
