A number of personal IP security cameras in Saskatchewan are being streamed online, with no indication that their owners are aware.
On a website that aggregates the cameras, Global News was able to observe people coming in and out of an unidentified lobby, workers on the job at an industrial company in Saskatoon, as well as a man and woman walking up a private stairwell.
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T.S. Surelock Security project manager Jeffrey Moen said IP security cameras have become more popular in recent years, because they are easy to set up and allow consumers to view video feeds on any device that has an internet connection.
“Most cameras are connected to the internet via network cable, Wi-Fi, any form to get internet to the machine,” Moen said in an interview Friday.
“In recent years they’ve become the standard.”
However the cameras are usually sold with a default password or none at all, which can make them vulnerable to digital intruders. Information technology expert Jon Coller said personal video feeds can end up on the internet, when tech savvy people seek them out.
“There are a limited number of addresses on the internet and it’s possible for someone to scan the entire internet and look for interesting items,” Coller said.
“It can take some time, but with some patience, someone can scan the entire internet in the course of either a couple hours or a couple days depending on how many computers they have involved.”
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Both Coller and Moen said the first step to avoid having your camera feed online is to re-set your password.
“Have a good, strong password, because these camera’s often don’t have key security features,” Coller said.
Moen added that consumers should also update their devices when prompted and follow the camera’s instruction manual closely in order to keep their feed off of the internet.
“From a privacy perspective, everybody doesn’t want to be on the internet,” Moen said.
“It could be on some camera somewhere, broadcast in somebody’s basement, you just don’t know.”
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