Communications of the ACM
Home Security Camera Wi-Fi Signals Can be Hacked to Tell When People Are Home
Researchers have demonstrated exploits of Internet-connected security camera uploads that track potential burglars, allowing hackers to learn whether homes are occupied or not.
Credit: gosimplehome.com
Scientists in the U.K.'s Queen Mary University of London and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing have demonstrated exploits of Internet-connected security camera uploads that track potential burglars, allowing hackers to learn whether homes are occupied or not.
Many smart home cameras use Wi-Fi connections to facilitate remote monitoring by homeowners, which hackers can hijack when activated—even if the video content is encrypted.
An undisclosed home Internet Protocol security camera provider allowed the researchers access to a dataset covering 15.4 million streams from 211,000 active users.
By studying the rate at which cameras uploaded data via the Internet, the team could detect when a camera was uploading motion, and even differentiate between certain types of motion.
The researchers also learned that online traffic generated by the cameras, often motion-triggered, could be monitored to predict whether people were at home.
From The Daily Mail (U.K.)
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