How Secure Are Wi-Fi Security Cameras?

Author: Chris Hoffman / Source: howtogeek.com

Everyone’s seen the horror stories. Someone placed an Internet connected camera in their home and left it open to attack, allowing strangers to eavesdrop on their most private moments. Here’s how to pick a camera that guarantees your privacy.

Watch Out for IP Cameras

There are two main types of Wi-Fi-enabled security cameras: traditional IP (or networked) cameras, and modern “smart” cameras like Alphabet’s Nest Cam and Amazon’s Cloud Cam.

Most of the scary stories you see online about insecure cameras are about IP cameras.

In theory, there’s nothing wrong with IP cameras. These are simply security cameras that connect to the network, either over Wi-Fi or a wired Ethernet connection. They provide a web interface you can use to view their feed. These cameras can also be hooked up to a network video recorder system or a computer, letting you view and record all those camera feeds in one place. The cameras may have some built-in storage, but it’s generally your job to record their video feeds somehow, if you care to do so.

In practice, many people don’t set up these cameras securely. They leave them configured with the default username and password, and then connect them to the internet. This means anyone can watch the feed just by visiting the camera’s IP address online. There even are search engines like SHODAN designed to help people find these exposed camera feeds and other vulnerable Internet of Things devices.

If you’re just an average person looking for some simple security cameras, skip the IP cameras. If you’re a hobbyist with the do-it-yourself spirit, you might want to give IP cameras a go. Just be sure you know what you’re doing and set them up properly so people can’t snoop on you.

How “Smart” Cameras Are Different

Modern security cameras like Alphabet’s Nest Cam (Alphabet is the parent company that owns Google), Amazon’s Cloud Cam, and Netgear’s Arlo, for example, are different than IP cameras.

These are designed as easy-to-use smarthome devices.

Instead of providing a dumb web interface pre-configured with a default username and password, cameras like these require you use an online account system. Live video feeds and recorded video clips are available through those online accounts. That account can sometimes be configured with two-factor authentication for additional security, which means even…

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