Amazon's smart home division Ring has announced a new encryption standard, TAKE (Throw Away the Key Encryption), which will become the default for video encryption and user control. The company says the approach allows it to protect privacy while still offering cloud-based features such as Smart Alerts, which notify users when people, vehicles or packages appear in a camera's field of view.
Under TAKE, encryption keys are rotated and temporarily stored in the cloud, accessible only by Ring to power active features. Once a request is completed, the keys are deleted within 24 hours. Ring said the standard was developed using Messaging Layer Security (MLS), an open messaging standard from the Internet Engineering Task Force.
The company said TAKE will be rolled out gradually from September and will be the default worldwide. Users can still manually choose end-to-end encryption instead. Ring also said that if a user loses a device, they can recover encryption keys by standing near their cameras, or use a passphrase, cloud backups, another approved device or passkeys.
The announcement follows recent criticism of Ring's 'Familiar Faces' feature, which uses facial recognition, and a class action lawsuit in June accusing Amazon of storing images of passersby without consent.