At the root of the adoption and use of security cameras, especially of the IP variant, is the ability to deter, detect and take action should crime occur in, on or around one’s property. This is the grand essence of security cameras as units, bought and used exclusively for the sole sake of security.
However, there are instances where one needs to think beyond the ‘security’ these cameras provide – right to ensuring that the cameras themselves while doing their jobs, remain safe.
This was the focus and base theory of my article, sometimes back where I detailed how the anti-theft of Eufy security cameras work.
That article, which focused on the Eufy security camera brand, was instructive as it classically heralded this one, which leads us today to the meat of the article at hand.
Now, assuming that despite the anti-theft features of the Eufy camera system put in place by Anker, its manufacturer, your camera system is somehow breached and an unauthorized intruder has access to the base station or camera: would it be possible for the thief to view footage that is already stored therein or make any admin-level changes with the Home Base in their possession?
Or, on the flip side, would it be possible to access the footage therein without the base station being at its usual spot and rightly powered as the rightful owner and user after such an unauthorized breach?
Let’s find out!
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Can A Thief Get Access To Footage On An Eufy Home Base Or Camera After A Break In?
A thief or any other unauthorized person, cannot access the footage securely stored on the Eufy Home Base or memory drive of Eufy cameras after a break-in, physical breach, or compromise.
The reason why this is so is that the footage is stored right on the memory of the Base Station and the station protects it with a 128-bit AES encryption shield; similar protections also hold true for the camera models where a memory card is used to store footage.
What this means is simple: assuming the unauthorized person or thief manages to get everything right and set up same or even remove the drive out of the base station completely in order to access the saved footage, the solid encryption in place will protect things up, long enough to make the whole effort useless and certainly, longer than the lifespan of anyone who tries same, using even the most powerful supercomputer.
Footage that is saved locally on the camera on standalone models such as the solar powered S40 is also properly encrypted and equally protected. Accordingly, thus, a mischievous fellow who compromises the cameras and takes out the card in an attempt to access the footage therein will certainly meet more than he or she has bargained for.
The only options open to access these is via the app or the online account, all of which are also properly secured and programmed in such a manner that only the right credentials open up the security system of the storage and ensures access.
Can You Access Footage Stored On The Eufy Base Station Or Camera After It Has Been Stolen?
Unfortunately, encryption and security are generally double-edged swords: you cannot also access footage physically stored on the base station or camera(s) once they are stolen away and effectively, in unauthorized hands.
This is because, for access to be granted and footage open to be be viewed, a lot of things come into play in a seamless manner to make this happen. Connection and powering of the device, ability to synchronize, and importantly, internet connectivity.
However, in the rare event that the Home Base, stolen, is taken to a destination, plugged in and an ethernet jack with internet connectivity plugged into the appropriate port, you could access, remotely, the footage already securely saved on the said base station, assuming you’re also online during such a moment and initiate the attempt at exactly the same time too.
However, for models that do their thing without the base station, this is clearly an impossible task, and short of physical recovery, there is very little that can be done to access footage that is contained on a stolen security camera once it is in unauthorized hands.
There is, however, a method that could be set in place if you anticipate that such an event might happen down the line: setting up cloud storage and backups of the footage captured and saved.
Set properly and running, cloud storage backs up the footage on the devices to the cloud in such a manner that it can be accessed anywhere in the world with the right credentials and an internet-enabled device. In such instances, it doesn’t matter the physical location of the camera or who is actually in control of the base station at the time of attempting to pull such data; all that is needed is and will always be the right credentials.
If footage integrity is of the essence to you and you cannot offer any excuses for its failure when called upon, this is the route you should take by all means.
However, as a side note, it is very instructive to note that the Eufy cloud storage service isn’t as stellar as its products: backups are slow to happen, arbitrary and in some instances, don’t even happen at all. The refund process could also use some fine-tuning and importantly, drawing footage from the online interface is noticeably slower and with much more lag than the standard mobile apps.
These are important points to consider. However, there is an adage that half-bread is way better than none. If you’re a believer in this adage, then, the service is by all means worth a try. If you’re not, then, the smartest thing to do is to look elsewhere especially if you’re keen on cloud storage and instant backups, and won’t take (or give) excuses in place of stellar service and action.
How Best Can You Protect Your Eufy Home Base And Cameras From Theft & Unauthorized Access?
The best way to tackle the theft of this security camera system is to avoid it, completely, in the first place. Instead of bothering yourself to death about what happens if the cameras or base station gets to the wrong hands, you can, as much as depends on and is permitted by extant realities, ensure that you prevent this theft from happening in the first place.
To achieve this, here are a few things you need to put in place or adjust to minimize the possibility of theft or compromise of the cameras or the base station:
1. Install The Cameras As Out Of Reach As Practical
This is the first practical step you need to especially consider if you desire to make your cameras as unattractive to steal or compromise as much as possible.
Eufy recommends mounting the cameras high, at least 8 feet above the floor. However, my experience and use has taught me that the number isn’t absolute. As a matter of fact, 10-15 feet above the ground still does its motion detection and recording magic without any challenges.
On the extreme, one of the cameras I have on the balcony of the 2nd floor of a two-story building still manages to detect and record action on the ground floor when such events come into its field of view. Beware, however, taking the camera higher than 15-20 feet reduces the chances of motion picking and subsequent recording, especially, at night. Then, again, to get it to work flawlessly, you’ll need to play around with the motion detection sensitivity and importantly, pay particular attention to your placement and angles.
A camera, remember, that is placed well above reach will mean extra effort to reach it. Now, for an undetermined criminal or an opportunistic thief, that alone is deterrence enough to move on.
2. Use The Proper Mount
When Eufy cameras that are meant for both outdoor and indoor use are shipped, they are shipped with two distinct camera mount types: a magnetic mount type that is perfect for indoor use where the probability of theft is lower (or even non-existent), and the screw-on mount type, perfect for use where the chances of theft and compromise of such cameras are higher.
Unfortunately, I have seen many users mixing things up, not just with the Eufy range of cameras but with options from other manufacturers that offer this manner of support and mount type. Sadly, this is where the challenge comes, and regret eventually follows.
Using the magnetic mounts meant for indoor use outdoors exposes the cameras to theft unnecessarily and makes the process of stealing or compromising them as easy as picking mushrooms on a beautiful Saturday morning!
Further, when these mounts are used wrongly, there is a great chance that the anti-theft alarm on the system may not trigger, given that the amount of vibration and force needed to remove such cameras, mounted with indoor mounts from their base is minimal at best.
If you’re curious to avoid or at least, minimize the chances of theft and the compromise of your camera, the least you should be doing is to get your mounts right. This is common sense and is non-negotiable.
3. Put The Base Station In A Properly Secured Room
This is perhaps one of the easiest and most practical steps to take when in the business of protecting your footage, especially on Eufy camera models that are powered by the base station.
The theory here is simple as it is straightforward: out of sight is out of mind. Moving the Home Base from the living room or where you place your router, openly, to a more private place like the study or your bedroom is a great first step.
That is not all; while at it, you may wish to disable the anti-theft alarms that emanate from the base station when any of the synced cameras are moved without prior authorization. This way, many thieves would be tempted to think that the camera is all there is to the security set up in your home or office and wouldn’t bother with looking for anything more (since most models are wireless to start with). However, with a blaring base station, one of two things will happen: the intruder might make a run for their safety or confidently begin to look for the base station with the intent to also steal or at least, compromise its content.
In furtherance of this, it is expedient to note that, moving the base station to a more secure place might mean challenging WiFi signals to the camera and generally, poor reception, a reality that may likely affect motion detection and footage recording.
To mitigate this, you could buy more than a base station and connect the cameras based on the station closest to them. With this setting, it might be necessary to place one of the bases in a more open place. However, I have found out that, placing the secured and hidden base in such a manner that one of its cameras actually overseas the other cameras that are connected to the ‘vulnerable’ base station is a tidy way to tackle this sort of challenge.
Admittedly, this isn’t the brightest way to tackle this challenge nor is it the cheapest. However, it is the ONLY option that works at the moment. Do not be deceived: no other option works, at least, at the moment since the likely option that may have worked is the WiFi repeater option which won’t fly with models relying on the base station since the cameras connect to their own synced base station and not the WiFi router or the repeater directly.
Wisdom, it is always said (and rightly so), remains profitable to direct.
Conclusion
It isn’t practical for an Eufy camera or base station, in the hands of the wrong hands, to allow same person to view the footage recorded prior. This has been clearly established with this article and with the 128-bit AES encryption shield in place, even a supercomputer, working all day, will take well more than a thousand lifespans to make any meaningful progress.
However, the fact that the footage on the camera and base station are properly protected from unauthorized eyes doesn’t mean there is nothing that can be done further in this respect: from the protection of the base station itself to the use of proper camera mounts and everything else in-between, there are a plethora of things you can go to avoid compromise of your Eufy security system or at least, reduce the chance of a security breach or mishap.
Now, what you do with this information is entirely up to you.