Do you know hackers can get into your CCTV camera and use it to launch an attack to servers on the Internet? Yeah, as a matter of fact, your camera could be hacked right now. Better learn more about it. Keep reading...
So, you install a surveillance system to a customer or even with some IP cameras or perhaps a DVR or NVR, then you enable the devices's P2P technology to allow the client to have remote viewing via the Internet.
That is something very easy todo, it's not rocket science, right?
Well, all over the Internet there are discussions about how easy it is to connect an IP camera or DVR to the Internet and enable remote viewing.
People say things like, "wow, I don't need to learn any advanced configuration or fancy stuff because the device manufacturer created a super easy way to do it. I Just click on or two buttons and everything is done quickly"
The truth is that there are many devices connected on the Internet without any concern with the security issues. Customers have no idea what is going on with their devices, and installers believe these easy set up methods on low cost devices are the next best thing in the world.
But guess what happens when your CCTV camera is not protected? Yeah, you know that it can be hacked and probably it will any time soon.
In this article I will talk about a serious problem known as Malware, a type of virus that get into your IP device and can be used by hackers who gain remote access to the device to attack other servers on the Internet,
Recently there is a major concern with one of these malware called Mirai which became very famous for using devices such as routers, and especially CCTV cameras as a source of DDoS (Distributed Denial os Service) attack to servers on the Internet.
What is a DDoS attack?
DDoS is the acronym for Distributed Denial of Service that is nothing more than a coordinated attack between several devices that request a service at the same time, so the server can not respond to all those requests at the same time and then start denying service to new requests.
It would be like a bunch of people coming to a hospital without really needing to be seen, but it would take time for all the doctors to take care of them, and thus those who really need the service could not receive it.
What is the relationship between CCTV and DDoS attack?
When a virus or a hacker get into an IP camera, DVR or NVR, these devices can be used to launch this coordinated attack to a target on the Internet. Imagine your DVR being part of a system that requests connection to servers and collaborates for a success DDos attack,
See this table with an example of a list of passwords for CCTV equipment used by the Mirai malware to gain access and infect the CCTV devices.
These passwords are obtained from the manufacturers websites that have the information in their installation manuals.
Note that there are several different CCTV brands, including large manufacturers that uses standard passwords for the devices.
Luckily, nowadays many IP cameras require the creation of passwords at the time of installation to avoid using the default password.
So we must be careful to not be part of this attack system, and we can avoid this by changing the device's default password, or better yet, using better device and having a constant firmware update to improve security.
Stay tuned for new device firmware and try to use more reliable equipment, after all you, do not want to have those issues, do you?
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