Can hackers control your smart thermostat and cameras? What one family's takeover teaches
Updated October 8, 2026.
Yes, a stranger can take over your smart thermostat and cameras, and it usually starts with a reused password, not a broken device. In 2019 a Milwaukee family lived through it for about a day. Unique passwords, two-step login and a locked-down home network stop most of these takeovers.
- Google blamed passwords leaked in other breaches, not a Nest flaw.
- Ring hackers reached accounts of about 55,000 US customers, the FTC says.
- Two-step login blocks most stolen-password attacks.
- Your Wi-Fi password and your device accounts both need protecting.
What happened to the Milwaukee family?
In September 2019, Samantha Westmoreland came home to a house heated to 90 degrees. The Nest thermostat kept climbing, then a voice spoke through the kitchen camera and played vulgar music.1
The couple changed their passwords, but the trouble continued. It stopped after about 24 hours, once they changed their network ID through their internet provider.1
How did the hacker get in?
The family believed someone got onto their Wi-Fi first. Google, which owns Nest, said Nest was not breached. It said these reports came from "customers using compromised passwords," leaked in breaches on other websites.1
That attack is called credential stuffing: criminals try leaked email and password pairs on other sites until one works. If you reuse a password, one old breach can unlock your thermostat, your cameras and your doorbell.
Google later made Nest accounts confirm new sign-ins with a code sent by email, and added sign-in alerts.2
How common are smart home takeovers?
More common than most families think. The FTC found that hackers reached the accounts of about 55,000 US Ring customers, in part because Ring was slow to require two-step login.3
Parents worried about nursery cameras should read our guide: can baby monitors be hacked?
Signs your smart home has been hacked
- Settings change on their own, like temperature, lights or locks.
- A camera's light turns on, or it moves, when nobody is using it.
- You hear voices or sounds from a speaker or camera.
- You get sign-in alerts or password resets you didn't ask for.
- Devices you don't recognize show up on your Wi-Fi.
How to lock down a family smart home
- Use a unique password for every smart home account. A password manager makes this easy.4
- Turn on two-step login for Nest, Ring, Alexa and every other device app.4
- Check for leaked passwords at haveibeenpwned.com and change any that show up.
- Lock down the router. Change the default admin password, use WPA2 or WPA3, and keep it updated.5
- Put visitors on guest Wi-Fi and keep cameras and gadgets away from phones and laptops.5
- If it happens to you, unplug the device, reset its account password, and sign out all sessions.
Setting this up for the kids too? See how to set up safe Wi-Fi for kids.
Where Rio fits: account passwords protect your cloud logins, and Rio guards the network. It holds every new device for your OK, and puts cameras and gadgets in their own SecureRooms, apart from the kids' tablets. See the Rio setup for families.
One leaked password can put a stranger in your kids' room.
Rio blocks any device you didn't approve and keeps cameras walled off from everything else.
See a family setupFrequently asked questions
Can someone hack my Nest thermostat?
Yes, though it's usually the account, not the thermostat. In most reported cases, attackers signed in with a password leaked from another site. Google says two-step verification stops this in nearly all cases. Use a unique password, turn on two-step login, and review which devices can reach your account.
Can hackers talk to you through your security camera?
Yes. If someone gets into the camera's account, they can use two-way audio. That happened to the Milwaukee family in 2019, and the FTC says Ring hackers harassed children and older adults this way. A unique password and two-step login are the strongest protection.
Does changing my Wi-Fi password stop a smart home hacker?
Not always. If the attacker is using your device account, changing the Wi-Fi password won't lock them out. Change the account password too, turn on two-step login and sign out all sessions. Then change your Wi-Fi password and router admin password.
How do I know if my smart home has been hacked?
Watch for settings that change on their own, voices from a camera or speaker, sign-in alerts you didn't trigger, and unknown devices on your Wi-Fi. If you see any of these, unplug the device, reset its account password and turn on two-step login before reconnecting it.
Sources
- FOX6 Milwaukee, Milwaukee couple warns hackers are outsmarting smart homes, September 23, 2019. fox6now.com
- Google, More protection for Nest accounts, February 11, 2020. blog.google
- Federal Trade Commission, FTC says Ring employees illegally surveilled customers, failed to stop hackers, May 31, 2023. ftc.gov
- CISA, Secure Our World. cisa.gov
- Federal Trade Commission, How To Secure Your Home Wi-Fi Network. ftc.gov
