- A mom influencer went viral with a video claiming her son's night Owlet camera had been hacked.
- She claimed her child told her that a stranger had been speaking to him through it and scaring him.
A TikToker sparked widespread concern among parents after claiming their son's baby monitor had been hacked. In a video that amassed over 6 million views since it was shared on Sunday, the mom influencer, Kurin Adele, claimed a stranger had been speaking to her son at night for several months.
The monitor's manufacturer, Owlet, however, has disputed these claims. In a statement to Insider on Tuesday, the company said it conducted a thorough investigation into the matter, including reviewing "all available data" on its "firmware, mobile, and server logs," and has concluded that there is "no suspicious activity."
@kurinadele Get rid of your wifi cameras!!!!! #owletcamera #babymonitorhack ♬ original sound - Kurin Adele
While Adele has not responded to Insider's requests for comment, she did post a follow-up video on Tuesday saying that she'd been in touch with Owlet's CEO, who had apparently relayed a similar message and rebuttal.
Adele's TikTok sparked widespread fear and panic
In the creator's original video, Adele said she noticed something was awry when her son woke up in the middle of the night and asked that his monitor not be plugged back in. Her son had been unplugging the camera for the last couple of weeks, she said.
She claimed her son told her and her husband that someone had been talking to him at night, which woke him up and scared him.
Adele said she and her husband were immediately alarmed by this revelation, so they decided to change the password in the Owlet app. When they did, they received an iOS warning saying their password had "appeared in a data leak." Adele showed a screenshot of this message to followers.
"Who the heck knows how long someone has had our password and has been messing with my son," Adele said in the video. "Owlet never notified us."
In response, Owlet said that the iOS warning she and her husband received was from Apple, and that the company does not store passwords on their app.
"As shown in the video the customer shared, she received a general iOS warning from Apple on her iPhone that a password used for multiple accounts appeared in a larger data leak," a spokesperson for the company said. "This was not a warning or notification from Owlet. Owlet does not store customer passwords."
The company advised customers to "be vigilant" and "use password best practices on all devices," assuming their password, which may have been for multiple accounts, was breached by a third party.
Adele ended her video by urging people to trash their Wi-Fi cameras and shilled a competitive brand, Infant Optics, a baby monitor that relies on a local video feed and does not require an internet connection.
A mass of commenters who claimed to be parents themselves said this scary predicament is precisely why they've always shied away from Wi-Fi cameras. Several commenters said they had similar experiences with the Owlet monitor before.
"This exact situation happened to us and our owlet went straight in the trash," one person wrote. "Immediately switched to infant optics."
'We have no reason to believe there was improper access by external IP addresses based upon our review,' the company maintains
In a lengthy email statement, the company disavows responsibility for this issue.
"All access to the customer's cameras came from the devices owned by the family, and we have no reason to believe there was improper access by external IP addresses based upon our review," the statement said. "Further, Owlet has zero confirmed cases of our cameras being compromised, nor have we identified any failure in our security protocols."
The company added that it will inform customers whenever it becomes aware of a data breach.
@kurinadele And thats how handle things properly #owletbabymonitor #babymonitorhack #babymonitor #owlet ♬ original sound - Kurin Adele
In Adele's update, she said Owlet CEO Kurt Workman informed her that the company has plans to create more educational content about using Wi-Fi devices safely, like encouraging customers to change their passwords frequently.