Dojo By BullGuard Cybersecurity Experts Identify Major Vulnerability In Amazon’s Ring Video Doorbell

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS- Cybersecurity expert, Yossi Atias, General Manager, IoT Security at Dojo by BullGuard, the market leading IoT security platform for Communication Service Providers (CSPs), took the stage at Mobile World Congress to demonstrate a live hack of the Amazon Ring video doorbell, exposing a previously unknown vulnerability in the popular IoT device. The Ring video doorbell vulnerability lies between the cloud service and the Ring mobile application. When the owner is in transit, a hacker can open a rogue Wi-Fi connection near the owner and wait for them to join, or join a common public network.

Launched in 2012 and acquired in February 2018 by Amazon, the main feature of the Ring video doorbell is two-way communication between the smart video doorbell and the user’s mobile app, which acts as a security camera and allows the user to confirm who is ringing their doorbell from anywhere in the world via the internet. Presuming the Ring owner is away from home, they can see who is at their door and then remotely open the door if a supported smart lock is installed to let the housecleaner or babysitter in, for example.

The Ring video doorbell vulnerability lies between the cloud service and the Ring mobile application. In the Ring video doorbell hack, Atias was able to change the video feed so the end user ‘believed’ they were seeing someone they know and let in previously.

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“Ring is a well-respected IoT brand, however, the vulnerability we discovered in the Ring video doorbell reveals even highly secure devices are vulnerable to attack,” said Atias. “This particular vulnerability is complex because it is between the cloud and the Ring mobile app, and is acted upon when the Ring video doorbell owner is away from home – meaning the package delivery person, housecleaner or babysitter might not actually be the same person at your door. Letting someone you ‘think’ you know into your home could potentially have dire consequences, particularly if your kids are at home.”

Another ring spokesperson stated, “Customer trust is important to us and we take the security of our devices seriously. The issue in the Ring app was previously fixed and we always encourage customers to update their apps and phone operating systems to the latest versions.”

Dojo’s cybersecurity experts were able to gain access to the application traffic without difficulty and noted that if the Ring owner is at home, Wi-Fi access – either cracking weak encryption (if present) or exploiting another smart home device is needed. When the owner is in transit, a hacker can open a rogue Wi-Fi connection near the owner and wait for them to join, or join a common public network. Once sharing a network, a simple ARP spoof allows the hacker to capture Ring data traffic before passing it on to the mobile app, and certain 3G/4G configurations may allow intra-network poisoning as well. Encrypting the upstream RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol) traffic will not make forgery any harder if the downstream traffic is not secure, and encrypting the downstream SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) transmission will not thwart stream interception.

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Spying on the doorbell allows for a gathering of sensitive information – household habits, names and details about family members, including children – all of which make the target easy prey for future exploitation. “Security is only as strong as its weakest link,” added Atias. “When handling sensitive data like a video doorbell, secure transmission is not a feature, but a must – particularly as the average consumer will not be aware of any tampering.”

The Ring video doorbell vulnerability was found during the process of routine ethical hacking where the Dojo by BullGuard cyber research team examines various IoT devices to constantly improve the Dojo Intelligent IoT Platform (DIP) capabilities to defend against potential vulnerabilities. Amazon has already released a new version of the Ring mobile app where this vulnerability has been fixed and the device is now safe from this kind of attack.

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