News LAPD warns residents after spike in burglaries leveraging Wi-Fi jammers that halt security cameras, smart doorbells

[stonecarver]

This is an interesting thread. I can see the flip side of the usefulness of a camera jammer. I bought a Anti-spy wireless RF signal detector but that only found the cameras. Having a jammer would have been a useful tool for our the now fixed situation.

 

[Hellman_x]

I have a tip too -- USE THE DAMN WIRES FOR CRITICAL STUFF.

That, and quit using cloud based cameras.

Fly safe CMDR. o7

 

[scottsoapbox]

I have a tip too -- USE THE DAMN WIRES FOR CRITICAL STUFF.

Exactly. This is yet another reason PoE cameras beat WiFi cameras.

 

[wakuwaku]

If the thieves in your area are tech savvy enough to jam your wifi, they also know that any random ethernet cable connected to your camera outside is a gateway into your house, whether physically or digitally, or both.
If you are going to wire up your outdoor cameras, please make sure those that you hire to do it to secure them for you. Enclose and secure the connections, put it in a tough to reach place, hide them as much as possible etc. Or do it yourself.
Alternatively, figure out a way to disable said ethernet connections using automations or authentications when your camera feed goes down or gets tampered with.

 

[bill001g]

Few if any are tech savvy they just wear masks and hoodies and don't care if there are cameras. They also know that even if they are caught not much is done to low level criminals in los angeles.

 

[Vanderlindemedia]

I would never use wireless unless there's no other way of getting internet from A to B. Seriously.

Wireless is not a solid stable tech - transmitters can go bust over time. Signals can be disturbed as seen in above. Perhaps there is a unsafe wifi encryption being used and you can be hacked.

Use wires people.

 

[bit_user]

Exactly. This is yet another reason PoE cameras beat WiFi cameras.

Yes, if you can run Ethernet cable, then of course it's the way to go.

If the thieves in your area are tech savvy enough to jam your wifi, they also know that any random ethernet cable connected to your camera outside is a gateway into your house, whether physically or digitally, or both.

First, there's a big difference between simply knowing that and actually doing anything with the knowledge. If people use a vandal-resistant dome, then all that thieves can probably do is just rip the thing off the wall/ceiling and snip the cable. Now, you have to strip the wires and crimp on a new connector, before you can do anything interesting with it.

That means not only seeing someone mess with the camera, which could set off camera-tampering alarms that a lot of cameras have, but then the camera would go offline for at least a couple minutes before they get network access, which is yet another event that can raise an alarm to the owner. During this time, police can be called by either an attentive owner or 3rd party alarm monitoring company.

However, I'm sure your typical burglar wouldn't have the skills to do all of that + hack into your security system, once they've hijacked the link. You can probably train a monkey to use the wi-fi jammers they have, but hacking into someone's network is mostly something that should only concern high-value targets. Again, if you use a 3rd party service for alarm monitoring, then a physical attack on outdoor cameras would give authorities enough time to conceivably catch the burglars, before they actually enter the building.

Alternatively, figure out a way to disable said ethernet connections using automations or authentications when your camera feed goes down or gets tampered with.

Get a switch with 802.1X port-based authentication. Then, even if they splice into your Ethernet link, it's no good because the switch won't talk to anything but the camera that had been connected there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.1X
​

 

[drivinfast247]

I would never use wireless unless there's no other way of getting internet from A to B. Seriously.

Wireless is not a solid stable tech - transmitters can go bust over time. Signals can be disturbed as seen in above. Perhaps there is a unsafe wifi encryption being used and you can be hacked.

Use wires people.

You don't use a cell phone?

 

[ritadebrad]

Use loud decibel door and window alarms like the ones ADT uses. If they don't have your code to shut them off, THE INTRUDERS WILL RUN AWAY. Keypads are HARD WIRED. Don't overthink this people 🤷

 

[bit_user]

Use loud decibel door and window alarms like the ones ADT uses. If they don't have your code to shut them off, THE INTRUDERS WILL RUN AWAY. Keypads are HARD WIRED. Don't overthink this people 🤷

True, but if you're going to the trouble & expense of hard-wiring an alarm system, you could also probably hard-wire your cameras.

 

[aberkae]

It's true, but a lot of people just won't. A big selling point, for these products, is the ease-of-installation.

I think a partial solution might be for Ring to start selling Wi-Fi routers, or at least partnering with a few router manufacturers, so that your router can detect a jamming event and send a partially-anonymized, geo-located notification to the authorities. When police get multiple, proximate "pings" of a wi-fi jamming incident, they could send an officer on patrol to check it out.


BTW, does anyone know if Ring or other popular wi-fi cameras support powerline networking? This is definitely one use case where I'd consider it.

Ring has a hard wired option with ethernet I just Googled it it is called the Elite with POE support.

 

[Wacio]

I have a tip too -- USE THE DAMN WIRES FOR CRITICAL STUFF.

more

Easier said than done. Houses lack network wiring when built. Hard to retrofit in secure manner post construction.

 

[Wacio]

Exactly. This is yet another reason PoE cameras beat WiFi cameras.

more

Easier said than done. Houses lack network wiring when built. Hard to retrofit in secure manner post construction.

 

[USAFRet]

Easier said than done. Houses lack network wiring when built. Hard to retrofit in secure manner post construction.

Just because the house was built more than 20 years ago does not mean "Oh well, I am forced to use nonsensical WiFi for my security."

 

[LabRat 891]

Isn't actively interfering with FCC-regulated communications a crime, itself?
Why aren't these perps being tracked down for violating federal law?

 

[USAFRet]

Isn't actively interfering with FCC-regulated communications a crime, itself?
Why aren't these perps being tracked down for violating federal law?

Yes, jamming WiFi is a crime itself.

But...track down how, exactly?

 

[aberkae]

Yes, jamming WiFi is a crime itself.

But...track down how, exactly?

Last week I have seen criminals walking up to an X7 in my neighborhood and driving off in 2 seconds flat. Doorbell cameras wifi hacking is childsplay in the new utopia. My friends neighbors 120k vehicle was tracked all the way to the middle east.

 

[Wacio]

Just because the house was built more than 20 years ago does not mean "Oh well, I am forced to use nonsensical WiFi for my security."

Nope - you're not forced. I did upgrade my Illinois 1990 house with full CAT5e wiring through out. I had access from basement and attic with some pre made bypasses and conduits already in place. Still was not walk in the park. Most of the houses I see here in Arizona (moved) are no basement and no attic. Routing cables outside of the house which is typical here for retrofits are not any good for security (easy to access and cut). All in all - if house was not prewired during construction - its not easy to install CAT5 or CAT6 in the walls. Most of the homes build today are still lacking there too. Time between 2000 and 2010 was where new construction was often set up with wired networking, but today builders have wide eyes if you ask for it. Wi-Fi is for them the only way to go.

 

[Daniel15]

Not only should you hardwire your cameras, but ideally you should also configure them to store copies of alerts offsite somewhere.

I have my home server and the PoE switch for my cameras on a UPS so they can still run for a while even when the power goes out / is cut, and my NVR software (Blue Iris) is configured to upload all alert clips (where it detects someone) via SFTP to a storage VPS so I have an offsite copy of them.

 

[MattyPants84]

Why would you have your security cameras on wifi? What's the point of having cameras? Any potato can order a wifi jammer off Amazon. All of my cameras are poe, including my video doorbell. Everything is hardwired into my server and there's a cellular backup. Add in the generator and the battery backups, my home is safe even during a power outage (plus im a baby and need my AC in order to sleep when its hot out lol). I don't understand why people use Ring and the other garbage, they're fine if you want something just to watch your pet from work i guess. Your home is both your sanctuary and an extremely large investment, why wouldn't you protect it without taking the dollar store generic route?

 

[LabRat 891]

Yes, jamming WiFi is a crime itself.

But...track down how, exactly?

Triangulation of an emitter?
WiFi packets can be inspected in real time; I assume 'jammers' have a mode of operation or 'signature'.

Besides that, I assume a 'jammer' needs to a be a stronger signal that what is being jammed.
'Can't imagine these jammers operate inside FCC-regulated power outputs for ISM bands.

The FCC operates trucks and equipment for tracking down violators (like unlicensed/overpower HAM/CB operators and electromaniacs interfering with licensed transmissions)

 

[tlarseth]

Mine alerts me when it goes offline, a long with a video of what it saw beforehand.

It then records and saves locally until data connection is restored then it backs it up the the cloud server.

 

[bit_user]

I don't understand why people use Ring and the other garbage, they're fine if you want something just to watch your pet from work i guess.

Okay, so why don't 100% of home owners even have security cameras of any sort?

Your home is both your sanctuary and an extremely large investment, why wouldn't you protect it without taking the dollar store generic route?

As mentioned before, renters are at a particular disadvantage, in terms of being able to hardware anything. Even among homeowners, some might feel they don't live in a high-crime area and have enough trouble just keeping up on bills, mortgage, and everything their kids need.

Also, not everyone is even aware of wi-fi jammers, or else the LAPD wouldn't feel a need to put out such announcements.

 

[Conor Stewart]

This is an interesting thread. I can see the flip side of the usefulness of a camera jammer. I bought a Anti-spy wireless RF signal detector but that only found the cameras. Having a jammer would have been a useful tool for our the now fixed situation.

What fixed situation? Any form of RF jammer is illegal, so you cannot buy or use anything to jam cameras legally and the punishments if you are caught doing so, like because of your neighbours reporting you because now their WiFi doesn't work either, can have pretty severe consequences. The FCC or your countries equivalent tend to really dislike people messing with the RF spectrum.

Also WiFi jammers only disrupt the WiFi, they are not some magic solution, if the camera has local storage it will not prevent that and if the cameras use anything other than WiFi, like ethernet or cellular then WiFi jammers won't work.

If you have a problem where people are planting cameras to spy on you, jamming the WiFi is a very illegal way that may not even solve your problem. The only proper way to deal with it is to deal with the root of the problem, the actual cameras themselves and the people that planted them.

Signal jammers are illegal for very good reasons and there is practically no reason for your everyday person to be using one.

 

[CmdrShepard]

Triangulation of an emitter?
WiFi packets can be inspected in real time; I assume 'jammers' have a mode of operation or 'signature'.

Besides that, I assume a 'jammer' needs to a be a stronger signal that what is being jammed.
'Can't imagine these jammers operate inside FCC-regulated power outputs for ISM bands.

The FCC operates trucks and equipment for tracking down violators (like unlicensed/overpower HAM/CB operators and electromaniacs interfering with licensed transmissions)

How do you tell a jammer apart from a misconfigured Wi-Fi AP which is overlapping your home Wi-Fi with stronger signal? Or from a client Wi-Fi which is spamming your AP with auth requests resulting in a DoS?