Protecting Your IP Camera from the Neighborhood Network

With any installation of one or more IP cameras – whether at home, a large corporation or government building – you need to consider security. The network must be secure from neighborhood networks so you keep intruders out.

Most networks are starting to incorporate wireless technology especially if it is a home network. With the higher number of users getting wireless laptops or even setting up their desktop PC to be wireless, the topic of security has been on many peoples minds. It is not hard to find a neighborhood network not secure and easily accessible via your PC. The same goes for IP cameras as these security devices are just like your computer or laptop in your network. Anything on your network is accessible if not secure.

Whether you are using a wireless IP camera or a wired IP camera, if your network has wireless functionality it is not a closed off from the outside world and this means your IP camera can be at risk. How can you prevent others from viewing video? There are many ways to secure your IP camera. I’m going to discuss some of the easy ways that any home user can secure their network and IP camera from a neighborhood network or intruder.

Wireless Router Security
Most wireless routers have some type of wireless security. This includes WEP, WPA and WPA2. These are wireless security modes that encrypt data traveling to and from your network. The only way to access the network under these security modes is to have the password to get in. It is highly suggested that you use one of these security methods. WEP is an old security mode so it is best to use WPA or WPA2 as these security modes offer higher encryption. This is the first step to securing your network as you are password protecting your whole wireless network from neighborhood networks.

MAC Address Filtering
This is another common feature on routers. Every network card attached to a PC, laptop or network device has a unique MAC address. This is a unique code assigned to only that device. You can tell your router to only accept certain MAC addresses through the wireless. If the computer trying to connect to your wireless network does not have a MAC address allowed by your router, they will not be allowed in. It is an uncommon practice to use MAC address filtering as it makes more work for you when you are adding new computers or devices to your network. It is an added security feature however that can protect you from those within neighborhood networks. If you don’t mind the extra work, it is well worth it.

IP Camera Username and Password
Most IP cameras on the market give you the ability to add a username and password to protect your camera. This should be a requirement for purchasing an IP camera, if it doesn’t allow you to protect the camera via usernames and passwords, don’t buy it! Be sure to use your IP camera manual or manufacturers support to add a password to the camera. If someone in a neighborhood network is able to access the camera, they will be denied access because they won’t know the username and password.

IP Camera Port
Whenever you access an IP camera or even a website, you are using a “port.” By default, websites and IP cameras use port 80. When they do this, you do not need to specify the port. If you change the port of the IP camera, you need to specify that port to access the camera. For example, if your IP camera has the IP address of 192.168.0.100 and uses port 801, you would access it via your web browser by typing in http://192.168.0.100:801. By changing the default port of the IP camera, someone trying to access the camera via a neighborhood network would also need to know the port. This again, is an added security bonus.

These are just some of the ways you can protect your network and your IP camera.

Do you have any suggestions on protecting your IP camera or network from a neighborhood network or intruder? Write a comment