Can you even imagine the moment if a stranger is possibly watching you and your family secretly through your own camera? It is indeed a nightmare. It has only been a few days when a California family were terrified when they were being warned of a North Korean Missile Attack on the US. Although it was a simple camera hack by a cyber criminal it indeed has terrorised the family. The family reacted immediately by calling 911 and ensured that they were safe. This incident is not one of a kind, it has happened previously as well where cyber criminals hacked home cameras and terrorised people.
Few Cases Where Home Cameras Have Been Hacked
- A family residing in Washington realised that their Nest account has been hacked. For almost two weeks they heard voices of a man through the cameras as if the man was watching them. At first it was thought that it could have been the other partner checking out on the family but not until the stranger spoke something spooky did they recognize that their Nest camera was hacked.
- A mother residing in Long Island said that her family’s Nest camera was hacked by a stranger. The stranger also tried to have conversation with her 5 year old son. The Nest cam which was setup to replace a nanny turned into a nightmare for them when they discovered it was hacked. The voice which was talking with her child also addressed her in a direct manner which made her wonder since how long was she being observed.
- Cybercriminals also hacked a baby monitor and strange voices were heard in the middle of the night from it. A stranger from nowhere threatens them that he would kidnap their newborn baby. From all these cases we can conclude that even home cameras and baby monitors can also be hacked.
Protect Your Home Cameras From Getting Hacked With VPN Router
The attacks which we have gone through are very scary. However protecting yourself does not need a lot of technical knowledge. Let see what you need to do:
Home Cameras
Buy a home camera if you really need it. Most IoT devices have no firewalls or antivirus which makes them an easy target. But if you do need a home camera first thing you need to do is to change the factory passwords. Cyber criminals have a large collection of passwords which are incorporated in your device by default. Choose a distinct strong password to safeguard your home cameras.
2FA
Always incorporate a two factor Authentication(2FA) so even when you enter the password 2FA takes confirmation again from your phone to login into the device. 2FA provides high security thereby reducing the chances of your device getting hacked. Unlike home cameras in mobiles we can figure out if our mobile has been hacked. Read How to know if your device has been hacked to know more.
Setup VPN on Router
Installing a VPN is great for your laptops and phones but it cannot protect other devices like home camera that are connected to your home router. A VPN router is a great companion for protecting the devices which do not have an antivirus or those which do not support VPN. Although you can always have a VPN installed to safeguard your mobiles and laptops from online fraudsters. Check out our blog How to setup L2TP VPN on TP-Link Routers for more info.
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