Who's That Knocking At My door

Who's that knocking at my door?

With the new doorbell cameras you‘ll always have the answer to that question.  Once a novelty of electronic hobbyists the doorbell camera is now available for all homeowners. These are sold primarily as security devices. When used with your home wifi you can easily determine who’s at your door from your smartphone, PC, tablet or laptop. Sounds great doesn’t it? You can tell when that pesky neighbor that always wants to borrow something is at the door.  Or maybe a political candidate that you despise is at your door with that insincere smile and a hand full of flyers. You don’t have to confront these people; just ignore them.

However, not all clouds (No pun intended!) have a silver lining. Doorbell security cameras operate with your home’s wifi system. Wifi systems can be hacked. Virtually  any electronic signal , i.e. radio signal, can be hacked. Hacked, meaning it can be received or intercepted, usually with bad consequences. In doing so a hacker will know who your visitors are and, with proper facial recognition software, identify them. He will also know if you have packages  delivered such as UPS. By having a view of your street they will know what happens in front of your house. 

One of the most popular doorbell cameras is the Ring Video Door Bell.  This is sold by Amazon.  The initial product was very easy to hack but the company says that changes have been made that make hacking more difficult. The Ring is accessible via an app for your phone or computer. Ring also suggests that you share the information from your doorbell camera with your neighbors, thereby improving neighborhood security.  Local police departments endorse this. They say it is a deterrent to crime. The Ring camera can be linked to Amazon’s Alexa.  

It is most interesting that Amazon would offer such a product produced by a company owned by, you guessed it, Amazon. Think of it as Amazon’s own private view into your world. If you shop at Amazon, and who doesn’t, the company has quite a comprehensive customer profile according to your shopping preferences and, of course, your credit information.  If they choose to collect data from your doorbell cam, and who says they won’t, your profile will be enhanced. Actually, anyone can hack your wifi and get all this data. This does not mean to imply that hacking is easy. It's not. Hacking requires considerable computer skills and tenacity.  

Recently, an Arizona homeowner received  a phone call from a hacker in Canada.  The hacker informed the homeowner of considerable personal data. He told thenhomeowner how many visitors he had received and described them.  When asked why the phone call, the hacker said he meant no ill harm he only wanted the homeowner to know how vulnerable he was. 

It could have been you.  What can be done? Since all our electronic devices are accessible via wifi it is imperative that  we have proper wifi security.

According to the experts  at the National Institute of Standards and Technology a password containing numbers, letters, and non alphanumeric characters is no longer recommended.  Currently they recommend a passphrase. A simple phrase that is from eight to fifteen characters and is easy to remember is sufficient. And if it is effective, it is unnecessary to constantly change these passphrases.  However, a different passphrase is recommended for each account you have. 

Remember to take proper precautions if you only need to know whose been knocking on your door.