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Have you installed one or more WiFi security cameras to protect your home and family from intruders?
If so, it’s extremely important to protect your camera(s) with a password that’s both strong and unique.
If you’ve been watching the news of late you know there have been several very disturbing reports of hackers remotely accessing insecure WiFi cameras to intimidate and terrify homeowners.
The hackers are using those compromised cameras to spy on, terrify and even extort the owners and their family members in some extremely disturbing ways.
Here’s a short video from ABC News that shows a few examples:
Pretty scary stuff, right?
Well, the good news is these hacks aren’t taking place because of flawed software or hardware.
Truth be told, these breaches occur when users either choose weak passwords or use the same password to protect their cameras that they use for all of their other accounts.
Using weak passwords makes it easier for hackers to use malicious software to “guess” the password that’s protecting your camera(s).
And reusing the same password for multiple accounts makes it easy for hackers to break into ALL of your accounts if they manage to steal their common password.
Even worse, many cameras don’t have passwords on them at all because they come with the password protection option disabled by default.
Almost as bad, several of the cameras that I have tested had default passwords in place, but those default passwords were printed in the user manuals that were available for anyone to download from the manufacturers’ websites!
Luckily, it’s very easy to avoid these situations simply by ensuring that password protection is enabled on your camera(s) and choosing a password that’s both unique and extremely secure.
Bottom line: When installing a WiFi security camera it’s very important to take the time to set it up correctly with strong security in mind.
And whatever you do, be sure to use a strong and unique password to prevent hackers from gaining access to it.
Bonus tip: While important, a really good and well secured security system is just one of the tools you can use to ensure the safety and security of your family and belongings.
This excellent resource is packed with tips and techniques for creating an overall security blanket to protect everything that’s dear to you. (#ad)