--- title: "Fiends Allegedly Swatted Victims, Use Hacked Ring Cameras to Livestream It" description: "Swatting is bad enough, but now, these sorts of dangerous trolls are using Ring cameras to make this crime that much worse." date: "2022-12-21" modified: "2022-12-21" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/swatting-spree-ring-cameras" categories: - "Cybersecurity" - "Future Society" - "Hacking" tags: - "ring" - "smart doorbell" - "swatting" - "the digest" --- # Fiends Allegedly Swatted Victims, Use Hacked Ring Cameras to Livestream It ![Swatting is bad enough, but now, these sorts of dangerous trolls are using Ring cameras to make this crime that much worse.]() *\Image: Ring / Futurism\* ## Swat Not Swatting — the [horrible and sometimes fatal practice]() of making a fake call to the police so that they burst into the home of an adversary — is bad enough. But now, these dangerous trolls are using internet-connected Ring cameras to livestream the attacks. According to a [press release]() by the US Department of Justice, two young men allegedly accessed a dozen Ring cameras through currently-unknown methods and carry out a weeklong spree of next-level attacks. During the alleged incidents, the schemers were said to have swatted their victims and using the hacked doorbell cameras to livestream the attacks and sometimes issue verbal threats to the responding officers, too. The charges are grisly, but also once again underline the [grim privacy implications]() of allowing connected cameras and microphones into our homes — not to mention underlining the irony that a device designed to be [easily be accessed by police]() is instead being leveraged *by* *criminals* to weaponize cops against their victims. ## Bell Tolls Along with the help of a third, unidentified defendant, the two young men, one from North Carolina and another from Wisconsin, have been charged by a grand jury with conspiracy, hacking, and identify theft counts related to the both swatting and the Ring hacks. Per the DOJ release, the swatting attacks began in November of 2020. The defendants, currently aged 20 and 21, "allegedly acquired without authorization the username and password information for Yahoo email accounts belonging to victims throughout the United States" and linked them to Ring accounts. During the alleged swatting incidents, the boys livestreamed both audio and video from the Ring cameras and in "several" of the instances accessed the smart doorbells' microphones to taunt police, the Justice Department statement notes. This swatting spree was so widespread and scary that in the fall of 2020, the FBI issued an advisory urging smart home products to use complex passwords and enable two-factor authentication so that their devices wouldn't get hacked, too. The DOJ added that along with the grand jury charges, the FBI is also investigating the incidents. **More on Ring cams:** [*New TV Show Made From Viral Ring Camera Surveillance Footage*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()