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Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

nytimes.com

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Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#71
post #31
post #2

I mean, any security camera that does anything with the cloud should never make it onto a recommendation list in the first place. I'm not sure if the product exists, but something that replicates a homemade setup would be amazing. Think of a bundled camera(s) + raspberry pi + 1tb backup drive or whatever that you can only access over your own dedicated personal wireguard vpn (or tailscale, something like that), but s…

Noob question: Is it possible to stream video to a device outside your WiFi without needing a third party server in the middle? How does one do that?

You can own the server yourself. Ask a buddy if you can plug in a box in their garage, now you have an off site solution.

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#72
post #2

I mean, any security camera that does anything with the cloud should never make it onto a recommendation list in the first place. I'm not sure if the product exists, but something that replicates a homemade setup would be amazing. Think of a bundled camera(s) + raspberry pi + 1tb backup drive or whatever that you can only access over your own dedicated personal wireguard vpn (or tailscale, something like that), but s…

What a strange take. You are saying that we probably shouldn’t use the internet at all, because there is potential for something to go wrong. You probably shouldn’t live in a house either, because someone might break in. We should probably stop using bicycles or even walking because you might fall and hit your head…

I think the take is far far narrower than that. Although there is no practical/technological problem of hosting your security cam videos on 3rd party servers there is a legal problem which is once you do that data is no longer legally yours and can be silently used without your permission.

I think the minimum requirement for a legally secure cloud hosted camera is E2EE and the camera can't upload unencrypted video at all without the decryption key from the owner.

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#73
Even the cameras like REOlink 2e are $75. This seems absurd to me. A wifi camera can't be more than what, $5 of hardware? Who is selling the cheapest, most bare bones, raw, wifi camera? Does it even exist or is every single one packaged with crapware software or sexed up by some company to over $75? Do I order direct from China for these?

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ubiquiti is trustworthy. Krebs jumped the gun on that accusation and apologized https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/08/final-thoughts-on-ubiqui...

If you're cool with the NSA backdoor that got leaked yesterday. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37570407

Since it's such an old report, it's most likely referring to Dual_EC_DRBG: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_EC_DRBG

So don't read the article as being about Unifi currently being backdoored by the NSA, but that the USG3 was one of the products using the Cavium/Marvell chips with the flaw that were being used globally in 2013 when the Snowden archive was released.

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#75
post #31
post #2

I mean, any security camera that does anything with the cloud should never make it onto a recommendation list in the first place. I'm not sure if the product exists, but something that replicates a homemade setup would be amazing. Think of a bundled camera(s) + raspberry pi + 1tb backup drive or whatever that you can only access over your own dedicated personal wireguard vpn (or tailscale, something like that), but s…

Noob question: Is it possible to stream video to a device outside your WiFi without needing a third party server in the middle? How does one do that?

There are two ways to accomplish this: poke a hole in your home firewall and expose the camera feed to the entire open internet, then attempt to add some kind of authentication system. This is very very hard to get right, don’t do it. The other option is to tunnel your internet connection on the remote device back into your home network so it looks to your remote device like it’s still at home. That’s called a VPN.

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#76

I have a bunch of wyze gear, given the price I never assumed they were meant to replace a security system. What I have been doing with these cheap little cameras is getting me closer to nature. We have a bunch of these outside and we've been watching the cats, possums, raccoons, and even turkeys frolic as they cross through our property. We even set up a little victorian style dog hours with solar panels in the backy…

I did use my wyze cams like that for a while (surveilling the garden pests mainly) but then wyze cut out that functionality. It used to record a little video clip when it detected motion, now wyze wants $5 a month for that.

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#77
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're cool with the NSA backdoor that got leaked yesterday. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37570407

If you're not cool with it, where are you going to go? Cisco? https://www.tomshardware.com/news/cisco-backdoor-hardcoded-a... Juniper? https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/09/more-detail-o... Huawei?

I know OPNSense is using AMD Epyc(embedded) in their routers and that their software is open source. Maybe not enterprise enough, or too big for consumers, but I've been rocking the DEC3860 and it's been a really smooth ride. Is AMD compromised? It wouldn't surprise me...

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#78
post #22

Synology’s new cameras seem pretty solid and they’re NDAA & TAA compliant.

that's interesting. I wonder if this is just excluding countries or has some technical requirements as well.

NDAA - National Defense Authorization Act

TAA - Trade Agreements Act

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#79
post #2

I mean, any security camera that does anything with the cloud should never make it onto a recommendation list in the first place. I'm not sure if the product exists, but something that replicates a homemade setup would be amazing. Think of a bundled camera(s) + raspberry pi + 1tb backup drive or whatever that you can only access over your own dedicated personal wireguard vpn (or tailscale, something like that), but s…

Well I mostly use my security camera to watch my cat stretch. For this, I'm pretty happy with nest cams.

Well, look who's just made themselves a major target for hackers

Re: Why We're Pulling Our Recommendation of Wyze Security Cameras

#80
post #5
post #2

I mean, any security camera that does anything with the cloud should never make it onto a recommendation list in the first place. I'm not sure if the product exists, but something that replicates a homemade setup would be amazing. Think of a bundled camera(s) + raspberry pi + 1tb backup drive or whatever that you can only access over your own dedicated personal wireguard vpn (or tailscale, something like that), but s…

That's the architecture of Ubiquiti Protect: https://blog.ui.com/2019/01/09/introducing-unifi-protect/

I'm in two minds about Ubiquiti products. They're starting to become a bit more user hostile and I don't entirely trust their web based products.

However, you can set things up to run locally with self hosted servers. I've got a couple of wifi points, a switch and the old security gateway along with a couple of their cameras. I've got the Unifi device management software running in docker on a Raspberry Pi swarm and the old Unifi Video server running on x86 hardware in docker. It's probably about time I figured out how to self host the Protect server and move the cameras to that.

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