For parents, it’s the stuff of nightmares—installing a baby monitor camera in your nursery to protect your child only to find out it has been compromised by a hacker who is now able to see your sleeping infant.

When these devices started to become common place, no one imagined they would one day be connected to the Internet so that parents could remote monitor their child while they were home with the babysitter.

And what’s more, no one dreamed that these devices could then become the targets of hackers. If you have a baby monitor camera, or any kind of webcam in your home, you’ll want to take steps to make sure that it is secure.

 

Why is an unsecured baby monitor or webcam so dangerous?

 

Having a hacker gain access to your personal webcam and monitors causes more problems than just the “ick” factor of having someone who can watch you and your family in your private moments at home.

These hackers now have a live connection to your home and just about anything in it. They could conceivably zoom in as you are using a computer and steal log-in information or personal data.

Moreover, burglars can find out when you are home and when you aren’t. This is true even if the camera is just in the nursery as they can turn on the audio and listen in to see if anyone is home so they can know if it is a good time to break in.

 

What can you do to protect your home monitoring devices?

 

There are several things that you can do to make sure that your camera is secure, including:

 

Research the product

If you haven’t purchased a camera yet, but are thinking of doing so, you should research the different models on the market. Look to see what brands have features to prevent remote hacking and steer clear of cameras with negative reviews concerning their security.

One thing, especially, to look for is Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum technology (FHSS). The alternative is Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) which is like an old school walkie talkie where other people with the same device can wind up on the same frequency. FHSS monitors are considered, at a minimum, to be the safest option because they randomly jump frequencies at regular intervals to prevent this type of crossover.

Secure your network

If you’re connecting your monitor to your home’s wi-fi, you need to make sure your network is secure. You should update all of the security patches for your router and ensure that automatic updates are turned on so you can get any new security features as soon as they roll out.

Your wi-fi password needs to be secure so that it cannot be cracked easily by hackers. A truly secure password should be between 8 to 16 characters long and a totally random mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.

Update your software

Many of us are hesitant to do updates on our computer immediately for a variety of reasons. However, these updates often include security patches for your computer as flaws are found in the operating system. These flaws could potentially allow hackers easy access to your computer and anything connected through it, like your webcam and monitor camera. These updates are important and need to be installed immediately.

 

Protecting Your Family Needs To Include Hackers of Your Monitoring Devices

 

For many people, buying a security camera or baby monitor is a safety measure meant to protect their family. Unfortunately, it is relatively easy to hack these types of devices because people often do not spend the time to properly secure them. It is so important that you do this so hackers cannot gain a window into your home and life.

Radius Bridge wants you to be aware and proactive in protecting your family at home.  Find out more about Radius Bridge and how we’re protecting businesses every day