Eagle Eye Networks Offers 12 Tips to Protect Security Cameras From Cyberattacks
Eagle Eye Networks has released as whitepaper that offers 12 cyber-safe best practices for security cameras.
AUSTIN, Texas, – Eagle Eye Networks, a developer of cloud-based video management systems (VMS), has released its “12 Security Camera System Best Practices for Cyber Protection” whitepaper.
The report covers the major vulnerabilities for security camera system and the 12 corresponding cybersecurity best practices. The best practices are designated according to whether the system is a true cloud solution, or a traditional DVR, NVR, or VMS systems that is connected to the Internet or corporate network.
With video surveillance, users typically protect their employees and company assets. With today’s increasingly Internet-connected surveillance systems, users need cyber protection or risk exposing their company to serious threats, loss of customer data, and loss of company reputation, according to Eagle Eye Networks President and CEO Dean Drako.
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“Not only are cyber breaches a major corporate expense, they can destroy the hard-built trust between companies and their customers,” Drako says. “Almost 70% of IT is concerned with cybersecurity for video surveillance systems. We created these best practices so companies can get a similar level of cyber protection on their video surveillance system as they target with their traditional IT systems.”
The whitepaper focuses on the best practices for Internet-connected security camera systems and cloud-managed video surveillance. Many of these practices also apply to other physical security systems.
The vulnerabilities and cyber-safe best practices for security camera systems covered are:
- Camera passwords
- Port forwarding
- Firewalls
- Network topology
- Operating systems
- Operating systems passwords
- Video surveillance system passwords
- Connection encryption
- Video encryption
- Mobile
- Physical access to equipment & storage
- Video recording software
In the document, Drako notes that Windows OS, Linux OS, DVRs, NVRs, VMSes, and firewall ports are among the major cyber-attack vectors for surveillance camera systems.
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The whitepaper also notes that almost all cameras sold today have a web-based graphical user interface (GUI), and come with a default username and password which is published on the Internet.
Drako points out that some installers either don’t change the password or leave the same default password for all cameras. Since few cameras have a way to disable the GUI, someone can attempt to hack into the camera via the web GUI to guess password.
The hacker must have network access to do this, but the cameras are often on a shared network, not a physically separate network or a VLAN.
The ideal best practice, Drako says, is to assign a unique long non-obvious password for each camera. However, considering that this takes time to setup and track, Drako suggests using a different, but strong password for each camera on a public network. For devices on a VLAN or physical private network, he recommends have the same strong password for all cameras.
To view the complete list of best practice tips, visit eagleeyenetworks.com.
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