How to Protect Your Home Video Surveillance System from Hackers

Unless you protect your home video surveillance system, the stored data or the surveillance capability of the system could get highly compromised. While securing your home security system, make sure that all connected devices and your home network hardware are secure.

Hackers can hack almost any electronic device as long as a single window of opportunity exists for them. You need to make sure that your security system is protected from external infiltration and hackers.

Use these effective tips to deter hacking attempts at your home video surveillance system.

Manage Passwords Smartly

You have obviously put passwords for all the devices that are connected to the video surveillance system. But if the passwords are simple, then they can be cracked easily by a hacker. Create a formidable password by using a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Also, make sure that you change the password in random intervals to avoid anyone guessing it correctly.

Secure Your Home Network

Your home video surveillance system should be connected to a home network. Make sure that the network is absolutely secure. Unsecured Wi-Fi networks make it easy for hackers to access Wi-Fi cameras. A single flaw is enough to allow hackers to infiltrate and tamper with the surveillance system.

Check Your Logs

Checking your security cameras’ log enables you to easily review the log history to see if and when other IP addresses have accessed your IP camera feed. This will reveal any tampering or unauthorized access that may have occurred recently. The trick here is to make regular inspections to detect signs of tampering in time or else you could risk losing considerable data.

Keep the Device Firmware Updated

You need to ensure that the firmware on your device is updated with the latest version. The new updates provide better security measures and make it difficult for infiltrators to crack through. Check with the specific device manufacturer for understanding the best way to update the firmware for your device. If you are not able to get it done yourself, then consult with an expert to avoid running into problems later.

Store Video Data Safely

Home video surveillance systems will require the video data to be stored either in physical storage media or cloud storage. In either case, make sure that you keep the stored data safe. If you have optical disks or hard drives, then password protect them and keep them locked up after labelling them properly. This will help in retrieving the data if and when required.

Make Regular Inspection for Detecting Signs of Tampering

Take a good look at the casing of the cameras. Do you find anything unusual? If not, then you are out of harm’s way. If yes, then you need to inspect the system to identify possible tampering. Such an attempt can compromise the quality of the data recorded and might also leak out sensitive information to a spying hacker.