Eufycam Wi-Fi Security Cameras Streamed Video Feeds From Other People's Homes

A software bug that's now been fixed allowed some Eufycam owners to stream video from strangers' homes instead of their own. The Register reports: These 1080p Wi-Fi-connected devices are made by Anker, and are designed to be used indoors and outdoors. They can record to microSD cards and/or the cloud, and viewable via a mobile app. On Monday, some users found themselves staring at feeds from other people's homes -- even those in other countries -- and feared they were being watched, too. The privacy breakdown sparked an eruption of complaints on Reddit and Anker's support forum.

A spokesperson for Anker told us just a small number of customers were affected: "Due to a software bug during our latest server upgrade at 4:50 AM EST today, a limited number (0.001 per cent) of our users were able to access video feeds from other users' cameras. Our engineering team recognized this issue at around 5:30 AM EST, and quickly got it fixed by 6:30AM EST." We're told customers in the US, New Zealand, Australia, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina were affected though not GDPR-armed Europe. "We realize that as a security company we didn't do good enough," the spokesperson added. "We are sorry we fell short here and are working on new security protocols and measures to make sure that this never happens again." Eufy recommends users unplug and then reconnect their devices, log out of the Eufy security app, and log in again to fix the issue.

tech support

[Local ID10T]

"Have you tried turning it off and back on again? That usually fixes the problem."

a limited number (0.001 per cent) of our users

[fustakrakich]

Statistics are always wonderful, when it's not you.

Poor man's street view.

[Ostracus]

On Monday, some users found themselves staring at feeds from other people's homes -- even those in other countries -- and feared they were being watched, too

Well that's one way to cut Google out of the picture.

Why is this possible at all?

[gnasher719]

So the visible problem is that the software _did_ connect to someone else's camera and showed its view. But there is an underlying problem: That the software is capable at all to view the content of any camera than your own. That shouldn't be possible.

Even if one of their software developers decided to spy on his neighbours and added code for this and pushed this out to the world, it shouldn't be possible to do this in the first place.

Re:

[stabiesoft]

As soon as you export the feed from your home network to the "cloud" so it can be viewed by a mobile device, it will be possible for others to access it. The only way not to do that is to have the mobile device preshare keys with the internal network while on the internal network, but of course that is going to be too difficult for the average user to do.

Re:

[King_TJ]

Yep -- exactly. But as someone who owns their video doorbell and not their security cameras, I can't say for sure? But I thought the ability to just stream the content off the SD card it records to, from your local device(s), was the big selling point to Eufy over some of the competition?

Why are people uploading their streaming video to the cloud with them in the first place? I know with their doorbell, I don't -- and that's the reason I got rid of my Ring and switched to it.

Name of company

[puddingebola]

Like the name of the company, truth in advertising. You get effied.