A national investigation into video doorbells sold through major online retailers has turned up security flaws serious enough that a stranger could take over a homeowner’s front-door camera with nothing more than a smartphone and a few minutes. Consumer Reports tested doorbell models sold under brand names including Eken and Tuck, along with at least a dozen other look-alike products, and traced them all back to a single manufacturer, Eken Group Ltd. of Shenzhen, China, which sells the devices under different names and routes them through a shared app called Aiwit.
What the Testing Found
According to Consumer Reports’ own investigation, the doorbells transmitted a household’s IP address and WiFi network name over the internet without encryption. Testers also found that anyone with the Aiwit app could put a doorbell into pairing mode, claim it as their own, and lock the actual owner out while viewing live footage. A third flaw let outsiders pull still images off the cloud server using nothing but the device’s serial number. None of the tested doorbells carried the FCC registration number required for the product category.
Where the Doorbells Were Sold
The affected products turned up on Amazon, Walmart.com, Temu, Sears, and Shein, per Consumer Reports’ findings. On Amazon alone, the organization counted more than 4,200 sales in a single month. A related writeup from Consumer Reports’ innovation lab notes that a researcher demonstrated the takeover hack in under a minute using only a phone. CBS News reported that Eken Group did not respond to questions from Consumer Reports.
Regulators Followed Up
The findings didn’t stay contained to a single report. Consumer Reports later announced that the Federal Communications Commission proposed a fine against one of the doorbell manufacturers named in the original investigation, citing the missing equipment authorization CR’s testers had flagged. For anyone shopping for a video doorbell, the practical takeaway is straightforward: a familiar-sounding brand name and a five-star badge on a marketplace listing are not proof that the hardware behind your front door is secure.
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