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Eufy Privacy and Security

posted by janrinok on Tuesday December 06 2022, @05:37PM   

jasassin writes:

A few days ago I read an article https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/12/more-eufy-camera-flaws-found-including-remote-unencrypted-feed-viewing/ on Arstechnica about how Eufy security cameras can be accessed via VLC (a media player application) with little effort.

As an owner of a Eufy indoor camera I wrote a concerned e-mail, this was the response:

Dear Jason XXXXXXXX,

Thanks for contacting eufy.

We appreciate the questions and suggestions you have raised with us. We feel sorry about the recent events causing you concerns and assure you that our commitment to our clients remains strong.

Our safety investigation team has finished an in-depth investigation and testing regarding the matters communicated. We adamantly disagree with the accusations levied against us concerning the security of our products. To help our clients get their own insights, we have published 2 statements in our community:
https://community.security.eufy.com/t/eufy-security-statement-to-our-community/3541186
https://community.security.eufy.com/t/eufy-security-statement-2-to-our-community/3544870

If you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to contact us at any time!

Do you believe the security researchers, or Eufy? Class action lawsuit? I am looking forward to all comments and/or more information.

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Original Submission

• Re:Don't buy cheap surveillance cameras... Re:Don't buy cheap surveillance cameras... (Score: 2) by RamiK on Wednesday December 07 2022, @02:47PM (1 child)

  by RamiK (1813) on Wednesday December 07 2022, @02:47PM (#1281541)

  you still have to provide power to the unit somehow.

  One of the MCU camera projects (I've seen while googing stuff to link earlier) had a motion detector, sd card slot and a battery that could keep the camera off for days so it should be doable for the espionage type things I guess? The real appeal of the tech is for anti-theft and dash cams in cars where a motion detector could be used to keep the energy consumption low so you won't wake up to an empty car battery in the morning before heading off to work. I've also seen MCUs with low-power NPUs so those could be used for facial recognition in doorways in cases where the power goes out and you're limited to a battery.

  Regrettably, it's clear manufacturers are hell bent on using the wrong tools for the job.

  Or you can wear a hat that has a bunch of IR LED's to drown out the image of your face. Where there's a will, there's a way.

  Back during covid I was asked to remove my mask and hat at the airport. The hat was obvious but when I was handed a cheap surgical mask they told me the respirator ones with a hardwire running down the middle obscure the nose and make facial recognition problematic.

  Of course, if the camera is out of reach you can use wasp spray to cloud the lens from up to 25 feet away.

  A career criminal would use a $100 paintball gun for that 100 feet range.

  Anyhow, I always assumed the obvious cameras are just fake plastic packages and the real cameras are hidden to prevent those sorts of things...

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• Re:Don't buy cheap surveillance cameras... (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday December 08 2022, @11:24PM

  by hendrikboom (1125) on Thursday December 08 2022, @11:24PM (#1281789) Homepage Journal

  Anyhow, I always assumed the obvious cameras are just fake plastic packages and the real cameras are hidden to prevent those sorts of things...

  I've wondered this, too.
  And also how many installations have only fake plastic packages and no real cameras at all.

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