Physical Wellness

Fitbit Receives More Complaints; System Attacked By Hackers

By Jenn Loro | Update Date: Jan 11, 2016 01:03 PM EST

Online hackers reportedly broke into several Fitbit accounts using unauthorized access they got from leaked emails and passwords from third-party websites in an apparent bid to cheat the company through warranty fraud.

In a report by Buzzfeed, an unidentified number of Fitbit accounts were discovered to have been compromised. Online fraudsters changed the registered information on the account to prevent real account holders from logging in. They then used the hacked accounts to request for new devices to replace faulty ones covered within the warranty period.

To combat the rising tide of fraud warranty replacements, Fitbit's cyber security team recently assigned risk levels to incoming requests.

"If we see an account that was used in a suspicious way or a large number of login requests for accounts coming from a small group of Internet addresses, we'll lock the account and have the customer reconfirm specific information," told Fitbit's CSO, Marc Bown as quoted saying by iDigital Times.

Furthermore, the health gadget maker also plans to strengthen security by introducing a two-factor authentication to deal with online hijacking of Fitbit accounts.

In another note, the company has been struggling with a seemingly endless barrage of complaints from users who claimed that Fitbit monitors are not accurate as advertised.

In fact, the health tracking firm is recently accused of deceptive marketing practices in class action lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court. Complainants alleged that they were lied to by Fitbit about the supposed accuracy of its Fitbit monitors- the lawsuit presented examples of inaccurate recording of heart rates by a huge margin supported by testing.

However, the company refutes the claims as baseless.

"We do not believe this case has merit. Fitbit stands behind our heart rate technology and strongly disagrees with the statements made in the complaint and plans to vigorously defend the lawsuit," the company's official statement reads as quoted by Wall Street Journal.

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