Smart-home device maker Wyze apologized to customers over the weekend after a security issue caused more than 13,000 customers to see thumbnail images from other user cameras.
The incident impacted less than 0.3% of all Wyze users, the company said in an email to customers. In an earlier update, the company said only 14 people were able to access other user images.
Wyze said it was hit with an AWS outage that took down devices Friday morning and as the company worked to bring cameras back online, it experienced the security issue.
“The incident was caused by a third-party caching client library that was recently integrated into our system,” the company said in the email. “This client library received unprecedented load conditions caused by devices coming back online all at once. As a result of increased demand, it mixed up device ID and user ID mapping and connected some data to incorrect accounts.”
Out of the 13,000 users who received thumbnail images, 1,504 of them tapped on the files, and some people viewed videos that were not their own, the company said.
The company said it has added new security features following the incident. “We know this is very disappointing news,” it said in the email. “It does not reflect our commitment to protect customers or mirror the other investments and actions we have taken in recent years to make security a top priority at Wyze.”
This past September, Wyze dealt with another security incident that allowed some customers to access live videos from other user cameras. The incident and subsequent response from Wyze caused the New York Times’ Wirecutter site to pull its recommendation for the company’s cameras. The company has also been hit with class action lawsuits related to other security-related issues.
Wyze, ranked No. 11 on the GeekWire 200 list of top Pacific Northwest startups, raised $110 million in 2021. Founded in 2017 by a trio of Amazon veterans, the company started with security cameras but expanded to various other smart-home devices.
