Plays penetrate the privacy of homes through imitated cameras

The Cyber ​​Security Council in the UAE government warned individuals of fraudulent attempts that may target children’s monitoring devices in homes, noting that although these devices are important and necessary for many families, indulgence in securing them may contribute to converting them into easy -to -penetrate devices by fraudsters.

Within its awareness campaigns, the Council called on families to follow the preventive advice and guidance to enhance the privacy of children, and to fortify the house from cyber violations.

Home surveillance cameras in general are a means that families resort to protecting their homes from theft, as some use them, especially when parents are outside the home for reasons related to work.

These devices are tools that provide parents the ability to follow their children’s affairs remotely, including only audio devices, and video devices equipped with screens that provide vision and sound, and are often monitored via a smartphone application, and these devices are characterized by features such as alerts when sound or movement, and dual -direction voice communication.

The Cyber ​​Security Council warned that the child’s monitoring apparatus is subject to penetration, as it may allow the fraudsters to talk to them, record conversations and movements inside the house, advising the use of strong passwords, and constantly modernizing the system, ensuring that the house is converted into a smart and safe house for parents and children.

For his part, the cybersecurity expert, Abdel Nour Sami, told «Emirates Today» that “there are several forms of violation of the privacy of the home surveillance cameras connected to the Internet, and the penetration may occur by people adjacent to their penetration of the network or online penetration from the Internet.”

He added: «In the event that these cameras are not protected by a password, they can be accessed from anywhere in the world, by anyone, so that there are hackers and criminals who leak the addresses of these cameras and exchange them between them, and they can be monitored, so the password must be protected.

He pointed to a second order, which is the default password, as there are many people who install the camera without changing the virtual password, which are in many companies fixed for all devices, and are accessed.

He cautioned that the danger of choosing a weak password, which can be guess easily, such as phone number, frequent numbers or general names, must be used as a strong password, as the use of a weak password makes access to the camera a matter of time no more.

He stressed the importance of maintaining a high level of safety and privacy, explaining that the safety of the device in itself is very important, and there are several imitation devices, especially from the software aspect, and here the head of the family must realize the importance of this.

On how the people can protect themselves from hacked fraudsters who may infiltrate their homes through these devices, Abdel Nour stressed that you should move away from counterfeit devices, which do not carry global credits in safety and privacy, pointing out that investing in original cameras may be costly, but safe, and is constantly updated.

Cyber ​​expert Abdel Nour Sami warned that one of the fraudsters may communicate with the user to delude him that he is from the official company to repair the camera, and in fact he will reach the camera and register it, and blackmail later.

He pointed out that the leakage of homes cameras no longer occurs in secret and the dark web, as it is now unfortunately the clips of the leaked videos from homes are circulated in public locations, and therefore their spread is greater.

The Cyber ​​Security Council earlier warned of the increasing electronic attacks targeting smart homes, explaining that 70% of the Internet of Things used inside these homes are underwent electronic attacks in the event that the necessary digital security measures are not taken.

Gaps in control systems

Information security researchers have revealed several gaps in some controls in the home cameras, and that the most prominent security risks arising from internet surveillance cameras cannot be overlooked, and that in the case of homes, the possibility of exposure to the penetration control systems is expected, and allows the attackers to penetrate them, as well as control home devices, such as alarm systems, locks, and take pictures via the Internet.

Experts discovered the absence of any kind of documentation or encryption data that is transferred between cameras and smart home devices on the one hand and remote controls (mobile phones or the Internet) on the other hand, and the hackers can easily locate the connected surveillance cameras online, and know their address (IP) on the network, the area where the house is located, and the main city closest to the house, as the researchers managed to connect these homes on the Internet to its real location, and thus know the address Geographical to her.

The experts of manufacturers of these systems recommended the need to develop these systems in order to achieve the required security level in light of the increasing electronic attacks.