Ring Video Doorbell
DROP ITby Ring (Amazon)
Last verified September 13, 2026
💬 — ask a question or share feedback →The FTC found Ring employees and contractors had broad, unrestricted access to customers' camera footage -- including bedrooms -- and that over 55,000 US accounts were compromised by hackers, resulting in a $5.8 million settlement and 20 years of mandated oversight.
Ring markets its video doorbells and security cameras around trust and privacy -- giving homeowners a secure window into their own front door -- as the foundation of its whole home-security pitch.
The FTC found the opposite was true internally for years. According to the FTC's 2023 complaint, Ring gave employees and contractors -- including hundreds of Ukraine-based third-party contractors -- broad, largely unrestricted access to customers' videos, including footage from bedrooms and children's bedrooms, which employees could view, download, and share at will. Separately, more than 55,000 US customers had their accounts compromised between January 2019 and March 2020 due to Ring's lax security practices, including allowing hackers to take control of cameras. Ring settled with the FTC for $5.8 million in May 2023, agreeing to a 20-year mandated data-security program with regular independent assessments.
A company whose entire pitch is trust and privacy had, by the FTC's own account, 'dangerously overbroad access' to the exact footage it promised to protect -- viewed into bedrooms, downloaded and shared at will by employees and outside contractors. That's not a hypothetical privacy risk; it's a documented, settled federal case with a real number of compromised accounts (55,000+) attached. The 20-year mandated oversight in the settlement suggests regulators didn't see this as a one-time lapse either.
- FTC official press release — Ring employees and contractors had broad, unrestricted access to customer videos including bedrooms; separately, 55,000+ US customer accounts were compromised by hackers between 2019 and 2020.
Ring's New Budget Video Doorbell Is Seriously Impressive | Ring Battery Doorbell (2024) Review — Security.org
Did Ring employees really watch customers' camera footage?
According to the FTC's official 2023 complaint, yes -- Ring gave employees and hundreds of third-party contractors broad, largely unrestricted access to customer videos, including footage from bedrooms, which they could view, download, and share.
How many Ring accounts were hacked?
The FTC found more than 55,000 US customers had their Ring accounts compromised between January 2019 and March 2020 due to the company's lax security practices.