Smart home technology has made it possible to do everything from turning on your lights to keeping the floors vacuumed with a simple voice command. It's also revolutionized how we protect ourselves and our loved ones, thanks to the advent of easily installed and easy-to-use products that can alert you to danger. But one brand is warning that its popular security system has just suffered a major technical glitch and is telling its customers to turn them off immediately. Read on to see if your home has been affected.
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A technical glitch created a security issue for EufyCam users.
ShutterstockIf you use the popular EufyCam to keep an eye on your home, you might not be the only one watching. On May 17, the company issued a statement warning: "Due to a software bug during our latest server upgrade at 4:50 a.m. EST today, a limited number (0.001 percent) of our users were able to access video feeds from other users’ cameras."
The company's statement clarified that engineers quickly noticed and patched the bug within about an hour, but not before the security lapse affected users "in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. Users in Europe remain unaffected."
The security lapse gave some users full access to other peoples' accounts.
iStockIn a post on the EufyCam subreddit, user MeChum87 described what those experiencing the breach saw. "I checked my app today (from New Zealand) and noticed none of the videos were of my own. They are from someone in another country (nice Mustang)—“Kangaroo Cam” alludes to being in Australia somewhere. I can also see their contact details (as added accounts)..."
Others posted similar stories, 9to5Mac reports, with one saying: “Noticed that my home base was playing up with red light then nothing so I jumped into the app and had access to someone else’s doorbell.” Another user said: “I’m seeing someone's camera from Florida at the moment and I’m from Australia. They have cameras inside their house and that is just creepy.”
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EufyCam users should sign out of their account and log back in again to fix the issue.
ShutterstockFortunately, it appears that simply signing out of your Eufy account and logging back in again seems to resolve the problem, according to a post on the company's forum. But while some EufyCam users say they’re being prompted to log in again automatically, many commenters on the EufyCam subreddit are saying they're jarred by the breach and are planning to keep theirs switched off for now.
The company assured that none of their other products were affected by the breach.
ShutterstockEufy, a subsidiary of electronics company Anker, clarified that none of their other home products were affected by the momentary security breach. According to the company's statement, this includes eufy Baby Monitors, eufy Smart Locks, eufy Alarm System devices, and eufy PetCare products.
"We realize that as a security company, we didn’t do good enough. We are sorry we fell short here and are working on new security protocols and measures to make sure that this never happens again."
