The Los Angeles Police Department has warned residents to be wary of thieves using technology to break into homes undetected. High-tech burglars have apparently knocked out their victims’ wireless cameras and alarms in the Los Angeles Wilshire-area neighborhoods before getting away with swag bags full of valuables. An LAPD social media post highlights the Wi-Fi jammer-supported burglaries and provides a helpful checklist of precautions residents can take.
Criminals can easily find the hardware for Wi-Fi jamming online. It can also be cheap, with prices starting from $40. However, jammers are illegal to use in the U.S.
We have previously reported on Wi-Fi jammer-assisted burglaries in Edina, Minnesota. Criminals deployed Wi-Fi jammer(s) to ensure homeowners weren’t alerted of intrusions and that incriminating video evidence wasn’t available to investigators.
ThePantser@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Don’t use wireless for security, PoE or CCTV
Chozo@fedia.io 1 month ago
Those aren't always options for renters, hence why wifi security systems are so popular.
TragicNotCute@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Even beyond renting, installing a wifi camera is SO much cheaper than running Ethernet all over your house. And if you need it run through an external wall? Even more money.
Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Lawful- Neutral renter reporting in:
I fixed an entire doorframe trim and drywall after the back door got kicked in - paint and putty are your friends
Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Renters have virtually no choice here. I hate it when people state this like it’s some damn easy thing for everyone to do.
unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
The real answer is caching. Instead of writing video to the cloud live and losing all recordings during a wifi outage, it should just cash the last 30ish minutes in case of failure to connect to the cloud. Then once the connection is up again, it just uploads the cached video.
jagermo@feddit.org 1 month ago
There are some that have local storage in case wifi drops out.
iamjackflack@lemm.ee 1 month ago
I beg to differ not with that attitude. In most situations you can non permanently get a camera out a window or door without harming anything / risking deposit loss. Only where you have no windows near exit points and a windowless door. But even then you can still atleast have something internal to catch a break in (wired streaming to web).
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 1 month ago
There’s no OSFA solution. Yeah, it sucks if you’re renting and can’t run cat 6 everywhere. All the same, you can still run a hard wired cam to a NVR/NAS in at least one location inside, but then you face the same difficulty anyone else does of securing the storage from theft - or you can have it upload to a cloud as quickly as is practical so you get off-site storage images and alerts of the theft.
There’s a lot of opportunistic thefts near where I live. Honestly, the odds of actually catching a good image of the thieves’ faces are petty low. If they know enough to jam the wifi, they also probably know enough to hide their faces. The thieves in our area all wear hoodies and hide their faces somehow, so all you get is the alert that someone is there and an image of a hoodied individual.
conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Easy or not, wireless isn’t secure.
aviation_hydrated@infosec.pub 1 month ago
The landlord might have an incentive to protect their investment
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Honestly, if I’m renting, I’ll just get renter’s insurance and not bother with doing any security.
As a homeowner, I’m going to do everything I can to avoid making a home insurance claim. As a renter, whatever, not my problem, the insurance can maybe sue the landlord for not securing things properly because it’s their job, not mine, to keep things secure.
SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Honestly super easy. I have a pet cam that records locally to an SD card and is accessible via wifi. A jammer wouldn’t stop the recording. Also like 30 bucks vs 50-100-200 bucks depending on which ring cam you get. Certainly not weatherized but good enough for internal monitoring.
Socsa@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Yes, if you have a $10M villa in LA where you store your priceless art collection. For the average person who just needs video for the insurance company for when some meth head steals their bike from the garage, it’s a great solution.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Honestly, deadbolts and keeping the garage closed would get that meth head to go to the next house.
If you send a claim to the insurance company for a stolen bike or something, you’re going to pay way more in house insurance than whatever the bike cost. The only time you should be making an insurance claim is for a massive loss, like a fire, flood, etc. The video evidence should instead go to the police so they can track the perp down and maybe recover your stuff.
Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 1 month ago
IMHO, it comes down to your risk, what will make you feel comfortable, and how much money you want to spend. Pulling Ethernet through the walls and patching drywall might not be something you care to do if risk is low.
Also, if someone really wants to not be on camera, they’ll wear a mask, turn the power off at the main panel, etc. That said, there are cameras that can run on battery and store footage locally when they can’t phone home to wherever they deposit video files.
ThePantser@lemmy.world 1 month ago
My entire 12 camera system is ethernet only which feeds into my server closet and backed up with a battery that can run it for 5 hours. The video clips are sent to telegram for backup.
CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Most people these days have either a ring doorbell camera or nothing. A very few people have real security cameras hardwired, and even fewer of those have more than 1 camera.
Also, about 1/4 of the ring doorbell cams need their batteries replaced.
PoE/CCTV is def the better option, but youre gonna be hard pressed to get regular folks to make the switch unless this type of burglary becomes endemic.
aviation_hydrated@infosec.pub 1 month ago
Right?? I don’t understand this attack. People are lazy and far too trusting to have their home feeds uploaded over the internet
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Cheap wireless cloud connected security cameras are the reason home surveillance is so ubiquitous today. Many people don’t have the know-how to install POE cameras, or it’d cost them too much to pay someone to do it. Plus, if you’re renting your house, putting the holes you’d need where they’re supposed to go is something you might not even be allowed to do.
I fully understand the attack. It’s effective against the majority of people.
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Yep. We have a mix of wifi/hard wired PoE. If you can handle crawling around in the attic or wherever, PoE is the easiest and best option. No need to run wiring to any sort of electrical box to power 110v for cams. Wireless is super-easy, but usually you have to pay for cloud services on top of that. Home hard wired with an NVR or NAS is the way to go.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Oh, having to pay for cloud services is TIGHT!