Security camera warning: This brand is missing a key privacy feature
There are plenty of reasons to install a video doorbell at your home. The most significant benefit for many is seeing who walks to the front door. Tap or click for a handy product that solves the Ring doorbell’s biggest problem.
Others prefer to use full fledge security cameras. This lets them see everything happening when they aren’t home, and they can keep an eye on the pets. But a camera is only as good as the technology that drives it.
Read on to see why this popular brand needs to turn the camera on itself and fix its glaring security issues.
Here’s the backstory
Eufy security cameras made by Anker are a popular choice. But there’s a big problem with its cams. The company recently admitted to storing images and video links in the cloud without users’ knowledge.
Even worse. Those images and videos were never fully end-to-end encrypted. Yikes! That means hackers or anyone who can find the video’s URL could watch everything around your home.
End-to-end encryption means only the camera’s owner can see what it captured. Essentially, the network connection between the owner and the camera is encrypted, so hackers can’t breach the visuals or access the stored data.
Security researchers found that Eufy uploaded footage from cameras to the cloud, even though the owners didn’t have a cloud subscription. To worsen the situation, anybody with a VLC video player could watch streams from these cameras if they knew (or correctly guessed) the URL.
More reliable home security
Not protecting your security camera footage is an unforgivable offense to many. Making matters worse, Anker knew this was a problem for quite a while and only notified customers last December.
But since everything is out in the open, Anker admitted that the video streams were unencrypted and that every Eufy camera will use WebRTC from now on, which is encrypted by default.
“We are rolling out WebRTC to all Eufy Security devices right now. Homebase3 and eufyCam3/3C devices released in October 2022 (already) use WebRTC for end-to-end encrypted communication when using the Web portal to access live streams in a browser,” Anker told The Verge.
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Tags: Anker, encryption, end-to-end encryption, hackers, home security, monitoring, network, privacy, scammers, security, Security cameras, security issues, security system, SimpliSafe, Social Security, technology, video doorbell, Web
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