Mom says she heard a stranger talking through her baby monitor
By Sarah Horbacewicz
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LAFAYETTE, Colorado (KCNC) — Last week, one mom in Lafayette believed she heard a stranger’s voice coming from her baby monitor, and now she’s hoping other families will take a second look at their security.
Mom, Jane asked not to share her last name due to privacy concerns. She says she’s been using a Nanit baby monitor for the last 19 months, but heard a strange noise last week.
Jane said she typically checks in on her son’s baby monitor on her phone, which is what she was doing last week.
“I was waking up, he was waking up. I could hear him babbling over my phone,” Jane said, “And then all of a sudden, I just heard this really weird sound.”
Jane says she ran in and unplugged the camera immediately as she believed that her Wi-Fi-enabled monitor may have been hacked.
“It’s been devastating. It has been really hard to just figure out what steps to take, how to protect ourselves,” Jane said.
She reached out to the company Nanit to report the incident. A spokesperson for the company sent CBS Colorado a statement in part:
“We are aware of this reported incident and have been in touch with the customer directly. Our product team conducted an initial assessment and found no indication of compromise. However, out of an abundance of caution, our team is performing a deeper investigation.”
As Nanit continues to look into the claim, Jane says she still feels uneasy, adding, “I think that the words are clear as day. The voice is clear. It doesn’t sound like some audio problem. It sounds like somebody was speaking to my child,” Jane said.
MSU Denver Computer Science Professor Steve Beaty explained that home security cameras, like baby monitors that are connected to Wi-Fi, have varying levels of security against hackers.
“This is among our most sensitive data, if it’s not the most sensitive data, and so we have to be very, very careful around this,” Beaty said, “There’s no question at all that local signals that are not connected to the internet are going to be safer.”
Beaty added that he believes monitor hacks like this are somewhat rare, but anything you can access online and out of the house has the potential to be viewed by others as well, no matter what brand the device is.
“Oftentimes, we will say that security and convenience are at odds with each other. And so, you know, it’d be really nice to never lock our doors, because it would be very convenient to get in and out of our homes, but we lock them to increase the security,” Beaty said.
Beaty added that monitors over a radio frequency can still be hacked into locally, but not as far-reaching. He also recommended people have strong passwords, keep device software updated, and consider investing financially in the quality of the product, as it could indicate a level of more secure software.
Meanwhile, Jane says she is now using a closed-circuit baby monitor and is hoping to feel more secure.
“I don’t know what happened. No one knows what happened. I’m not getting explanations. But if there’s any risk to any of our children, obviously, I want other people to be aware,” Jane said.
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