A Desto County family has released chilling footage of a hacker talking to and taunting an eight-year-old girl through a security camera in her bedroom, WMC5 reported.
A Desto County family has released chilling footage of a hacker talking to and taunting an eight-year-old girl through a security camera in her bedroom, WMC5 reported.
The little girl's mother, Ashley LeMay, said the Ring camera had been set up as a way of monitoring her children while she was at work, but was soon accessed by a virtual intruder who used it to terrify her young daughter, Alyssa.
"She had one and she was like watching her kids on the phone and I was like, 'Oh you can actually speak to them, that's really neat,'" she told WMC5.
It would allow the mom-of-three to keep an eye on her kids while working overnight nurse shifts.
Just four days after the camera went up, however, Alyssa heard some rather strange noises coming from what she thought was her empty bedroom.
"I was in the hallway," the youngster told WMC5. "I thought it was my sister because I hear music."
The hacker continues to taunt the 8 year old with the haunting tune, "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" before eventually replying, "I'm your best friend. I'm Santa Claus."
This prompts Alyssa to call out for her mom, while the hacker repeats that he's Santa Claus and asks, "Don't you want to be my best friend?"
Eventually, the little girl's father rushed into the room and disconnected the Ring camera, putting an end to the chilling encounter.
"[The hacker] could have watched [the girls] sleeping, changing," she said. "I mean, they could have seen all kinds of things. Honestly, my gut... it makes me feel like it's either somebody who knows us or somebody who is very close by."
Watch the full video below.
The family has since increased other security measures in their home.
Ashley admitted they did not set up the two-factor authentication feature for their Ring account, which would have potentially protected the camera from hackers.
According to 13ABC, the unnamed woman's bedroom camera, which was meant to monitor her new puppy, was accessed by someone who then turned it on while she was lying in bed.
Following the two incidents, Ring has released a statement assuring any worried customers that they "take the security of our devices seriously."
"While we are still investigating this issue and are taking appropriate steps to protect our devices based on our investigation, we are able to confirm this incident is in no way related to a breach or compromise of Ring’s security," a spokesperson told WMC5 in a statement.
The company also encouraged customers to enable the two-factor authentication on their Ring account, use strong passwords, and regularly change those passwords to thwart potential hackers.