So your concern is if the Wyze camera can be hacked, right?
You are not alone, thousands of people share the same concern and want to know how to protect themselves from hackers and they ask the question "Is Wyze Cam safe?"
Yes, the Wyze Camera can be hacked and somebody can have access to the live video of your home or office. Keep in mind that the camera is not "unckeable" but there are ways to reduce the problem and increase the camera security.
==> Warning: Alright, you are reading about Wyze Cam hacking but I hope you are not inclined to hack somebody else's camera, are you?
The idea of this article is to help you to understand what the camera's vulnerabilities are and how to reduce the risk of the camera not authorized access (A.K.A. hacking). You've been warned.
No device is 100% safe on the Internet
I've been working for more than 16 years as a security camera engineer and I can guarantee that there's no device connected to a computer network that is 100% safe from hackers, no exception for that rule.
The Wyze camera can be hacked like any other device that is plugged to the Internet. There are some things that can be done to help protect the camera but you still have to consider that this device is hackable.
Let's discuss the most common Wyze Cam security issues...
The Wyze camera data leak
The Wyze Labs database that holds millions of customers' information was breached which makes it possible for hackers to have the necessary information to get into people's Wyze Cam.
Customer's email addresses and a list of cameras in their homes were exposed and that's enough information to help a hacker initiate an attack to try gain access to a huge number of cameras. At the point the Wyze Cam was not safe anymore.
This incident was discovered by the twelve security and later confirmed by the Wyze Labs in their forum in 2019. So, yeah... this thing is real!
Can you imagine the information of more than 2 million people exposed?
This can cause real damage in the hands of experienced hackers.
How to protect your camera
When the breach occurs, the Wyze Labs signed the user out of the accounts to avoid hacking, it also reset the connection to Alexa and Google Assistant.
This actions help to protect you camera but you can also do your part.
Here are some things you can do to protect your Wyze Cam from hackers.
Change your password
Go the the Wyze app on your mobile and click on teh "account tab" click on your "Security" and "reset password".
Don't use old passwords or the some data that can be guessed by hackers such as dates or information that can e found on your Facebook page.
Always choose a strong password to protect your camera.
Enable two-step verification
To improve security enable two-step verification on your Wyze account.
After enabling this features, every time you try to log into your account a text message is sent to with a code that you have to use to access the account and that makes the access to your Wyze camera much safer.
To enable two-step verification your Wyze Cam go to "Account" select Security, click "two-Step verification" and toggle the switch "Verification by SMS".
Add your phone number to receive the text message with the code to finish the setup.
And it's done! Now you have extra protection for your Wyze Cam.
Reconect to third-party account
Once you have created a new password and enabled the two-factor authentication for your camera, it's time to reconnect to the third party systems.
If you are using the Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, just start the sync process all over again to have your Wyze Cam working with those platforms.
The following articles explain how to do that.
Make sure you also have these third-party platform secure.
Update the camera firmware
New updates are released from time to time to improve the camera features, fix glitches an fix potential security problems.
Just keep the firmware on you camera updated by visiting the Wyze Cam website to check for information on new firmware releases.
The physical access problem
Hackers can also get into your camera by having physical access to it.
Yeah, that happens all the time, especially in office where a lot of people are walking around, so you need to be aware of that and protect your camera.
Somebody can reset your camera and create a new password in just a few minutes and perhaps your are too busy on a business travel and won't
In the article how to reset the Wyze Cam V2 I show this process works, so I highly recommend that you read it to understand how it's done.
You can protect your camera from hacker by just avoiding physical access to it. Just lock down the place the camera is installed or buy a housing to protect your camera if this is a concern.
Network security
OK, even if you have changed the password to protect your camera, still there's a risk related to your network and the hackers can exploit that.
Network security is very important and you can protect not only your Wyze cam but everything else that is connected to it.
If a hacker have access to your network by connecting a cable on your switch or a router he/she can start trying different techniques to get into your camera.
Here are some of the techniques used by hackers to break into devices
Brute force attack
As you already know, your device uses a password for protection and you took care of the problem by using a new one, right?
But, have you follow the suggestion of using a strong password?
I hope you did because hackers can use the brute force attack to try a combination of different passwords until guess the right one.
This type of attack is done via computers that can test thousands of password in a matter of minutes, so it can be very effective.
To protect your Wyze Cam from such attach just use a strong password with a combination of number, letters and especial characters.
Most of the time, the software used for the brute force attack uses words from a dictionary and you need to avoid such words to be safe.
Wi-Fi Network attack
Sometimes a hacker can get access to your network by just connecting to your Wi-fi router that is unprotected by a weak password or encryption.
Good Wi-Fi routers have strong encryption such as the WPA2 that must be enabled to make things harder for the hackers around your premisses.
Make sure to buy a good router which uses this type os strong encryption and follow the same rule of using strong and hard-to-guess passwords.
You can also disable any guest connection feature and lock your router in a place where people to have physical access to it.
Conclusion
To keep your Wyse cam safe is necessary to take extra steps.
The Wyze Camera can be hacked as any other device that connects to the Internet and it's up to you to take measures to protect your camera.
Don't install your camera on places that can compromisse your privacy and keep your passwords secret. You can also improve the network security.
I hope this article can help you, please share with your friends.