Cybersecurity has emerged as a big challenge for security players. Recent reports on hackers using cameras to launch DDoS attacks further underscores the importance of guarding against cyberattacks. Best practices from changing passwords to encryption should be implemented to secure a user's video system.
Cybersecurity has emerged as a big challenge for security players. Recent reports on hackers using cameras to launch DDoS attacks further underscores the importance of guarding against cyberattacks. Best practices from changing passwords to encryption should be implemented to secure a user's video system.
That's the point raised by
Panasonic Business in its latest whitepaper titled “Just how secure is your video surveillance.”
According to Panasonic, cybersecurity has become a serious issue as video surveillance migrates from analog to IP. “This problem was very unlikely to occur in the ‘old’ analogue world since we already had a high level of security provided by separate networks and tapping and manipulation of data was (and is) very difficult,” it said. “The ever-growing proliferation of IP cameras makes the need to protect camera systems and the underlying network more and more important as knowledge regarding attack methods is becoming easier to obtain, especially over the Internet.”
Among the common attack methods cited by Panasonic are backdoors – parts of software (often introduced by the author) that enable users to avoid the standard access security control to obtain access to a computer or IP camera – and errors in a camera's operating system. “IP cameras are nowadays miniature high-performance processors with their own operating systems and software for image processing. Potential software errors and security gaps in the software of a camera can be exploited to launch attacks on the camera,” the whitepaper said.
And camera hacks can lead to dire consequences, contrary to what some users believe, Panasonic said. “We regularly hear from our clients that they believe their video cameras are of little relevance to outsiders and that therefore there is no danger associated with the IP cameras. However, it should be noted that cameras can indeed also indirectly provide vital information,” it said. “Any potential offender can see exactly when offices in a company are vacant and, in the easiest possible manner, discover through spying on habits and working hours practiced in a company or shop the best time for carrying out a burglary or raid with minimum risk. Even more critical are instances of video data from the private sphere becoming public. Nobody wants to be filmed when at home on the couch or when engaged in other private matters.”
To this, Panasonic made several recommendations, including immediately changing the standard password when setting up a camera; notifying users of update options; encrypting all data transferred between camera, recorder and VMS; installing a virus scanner in all video systems to detect changes in the network without delay; checking the firewall policies and open ports; and using data verification to detect changes in the user’s network.
The company added its solutions come with the following features: password protection that no longer allows the cameras to be operated with the default password; full encryption of data transfers between cameras, recorders and the VMS; and provision of certificates to customers who have encapsulated source code that enables very fast data encryption (17 ms in comparison to OpenSSL with 43 ms).