Ask HN: How risky are wifi-enabled baby monitors and security cameras? - WhiteSource1
======
qhwudbebd
I wanted to buy IP cameras for my farm but had the same doubts you do.

So I bought many different models, all of which had dozens of random and
utterly inappropriate services running along with a hideous web interface that
made me shudder to think what lay inside.

In some cases I unpicked the firmware and saw it was even worse than imagined.
They all got sold on eBay.

I claim there are no competent products in this category, though I would
dearly love to be proved wrong with a counterexample. You could always use a
RPi 0w plus camera module I suppose?

------
bartvk
You could have added a bit more information, right?

Risk is usually defined as equal to chance times damage. So which damage could
happen in your case? In other words, that security camera, what is it
guarding?

In a general sense, if you plan to buy a camera, I think it would make sense
to see how the vendor has reacted to security holes in the past.

------
borplk
Most of them are really bad.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4bhkKk5MCY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4bhkKk5MCY)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxGmQWrNQC4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxGmQWrNQC4)

------
PaulHoule
Burglars are in the business of coming into your place when you aren't there,
taking your stuff, and hauling it away. Robbery/home invasion is a different
business entirely, so burglars are always on the outlook for ways to know if
you are home or not.

There also have been cases where the residents of a house were planning a
crime or a cover-up for a crime and police have impounded security camera
tapes as evidence. Richard Nixon proved that the person most likely to bug you
is _you_ and that is still true today.

------
bradknowles
Yes.

