After Nest contacted its customers earlier this month urging them to better secure their accounts, it appears the company is now taking the reins.
The Verge reported Friday that the Google-owned smart home products company is effectively locking its users out of their accounts and prompting them to reset their passwords if it thinks they’re at risk. According to the site, the company “said that it plans to use the measure on an ongoing basis as information is compromised.”
The company also appears to be encouraging its customers to enable two-factor authentication, something it’s been urging them to do in the wake of multiple high-profile hacking incidents, including one incident in which a family was alerted by their Nest device of an apparent ballistic missile alert that turned out to be a sham.
During another incident last year, a woman said she was told via a Nest device that a man was in her home and was going to kidnap her baby; this, too, turned out to be the handiwork of a hacker.
According to the Verge, Nest started reaching out to customers whose passwords may have been jeopardised. Both Nest’s main and support accounts on Twitter confirmed to users on Friday that the email they received was legitimate and that the measure was taken as a security precaution.
“We’ve just sent out password resets to customers [whose] account information may have been breached through other sites as a precaution to ensure only the owner can access the account,” the company’s support account told one user. This is especially true for anyone who has Nest cameras in their home. A password manager is also always a good idea.
However, as the Verge noted, users should still be on the lookout for signs of potential reusing passwords and definitely enable two-factor authentication if you haven’t already.