World War Privacy Part 3: Staying private and safe at home (guide)

World War Privacy Part 3 is about privacy and staying safe at home. Some is common sense, some is tech, and some is clever.

First a seque. Friends who are amateur ‘cruisefluencers’ overshare on Facebook. Not only dates, cruise itinerary, but every photo from the welcome aboard to disembarkation. Over the past three years (and multiple cruises), their home has been broken into three times. Last year, they installed a new security ecosystem, which showed two more attempts, one of which was partially successful because the thief exploited a blind spot.

Finally, I convinced them to set up another Fakebook account to cover cruises and for their original one to say that cruise time was over and life was now more ‘normal’. Coincidence or not, the three cruises this year have not had corresponding break-ins.

Why? Well, at its simplest, the new FakeBook account contains no personally identifiable information like address and holiday dates, and their home is now part of typical suburbia.

It also stops AI from identifying potential targets and organising local Cybercriminals to hire locals to spy on you (safety). If you have not read this, it is about cybercriminals identifying targets and using locals to gather the missing pieces of data.

That takes care of oversharing. Let’s look at whole-of-home security

To use another old analogy, stopping a leak by sticking fingers in a dyke is fine until you run out of fingers. Imagine the dyke is like the holes in your home security.

Every home is different, so here are a few things to consider.

Eufy kindly gave us the inspiration for both what to do and what else to do. I can count at least a dozen unprotected areas and ingress points. This relates solely to DIY products.

Let’s start with the good.

1. Floodlight pan and tilt cam (hardwire) at the garage, right
2. Wall light cam (hardwire) at the garage walkway, left
3. Outdoor cam (battery, solar or hardwire) with LED spot covering the entry
4. Video doorbell (battery or hardwire). Interestingly, only 34% of thieves use the front entry.
5. Smart lock (battery)
6. Solar camera pointing to the pool
7. Indoor pan and tilt camera (hardwire) in the kitchen
8. Homebase is in a good location for all cameras (Homebase keeps cameras off Wi-Fi, provides a high level of AI and local storage without s subscription).
9. Alarm panel near front door

What didn’t they protect

1. The entire front grass area around the Eufy logo. No motion or heat detection means criminals can walk up to the kitchen (yes, there is a camera inside) and edge around the left of the home to the back, as the solar camera won’t cover immediately below it. The cure – another solar camera on the kitchen wall facing the street.
2. The two skylights offer easy access by a ladder from the blind spot above. Window sensors would cover the entry, but there is no camera in the front bedroom to record the criminal’s activity. However, the solar camera suggested in point 1 should deter the roof access from that side.
3. The entire rear of the home has no security, yet there are several windows and a back door. Ditto to window sensors, but a floodlight pan and tilt camera would cover the back yard. Over 60% of break-ins are from the home’s back
4. The entire right side of the home. Let’s assume there is a diving fence where the criminals can avoid the floodlight cam. A solar cam on the front side corner would cover that area.
5. An indoor camera in the nursery would serve two purposes. Monitor the child and record any break-in.

Harvey Norman says that few (if any) customers consider the overall security ecosystem and generally buy a 2 or 3 pack of cameras, few video doorbells, and won’t often consider HomeBase or similar AI systems. Yes, it is a matter of cost, but are they getting what they really need?

Now, let’s cover privacy

By default, security cameras activate with motion and/or heat (pixel-level motion detection and Passive Infrared heat detection). Sensors usually use motion or magnet switches.

Outdoor cameras can have false positives from wind and trees, birds, animals, passing cars, etc. My pool camera suffered due to a solar-powered robot leaf skimmer (heat and motion). The Catch-22 is that you can set motion zones (that don’t trigger an event) and/or decrease the sensor sensitivity. Both of these reduce the camera’s efficiency. In the pool case above, setting a motion zone excluding the pool and reducing sensitivity meant I created a blind spot at the pool gate entrance.

Indoor cameras also suffer the same issues, but have the added problem of privacy. What happens when you raid the fridge in your underwear (or less)? Sure, you can disarm cameras when you are at home, but you may forget to arm them when going out.

The answer is AI that is trained to recognise friends, regular visitors, pets, specific vehicles and more and not trigger an event. Perfect for the near-naked dash to the fridge.

eufy dual-cam superb security – with optional Homebase recording has a subscription-free Bionic Mind in its HomeBase 3, which provides local storage and on-device AI. It also offers camera follow to cover a person’s journey through the property.

Arlo Intelligence Powers 6 New Smart Home Security Cameras, offers AI integrated via Arlo’s Secure subscription.

Swann MaxRanger4K up to 600 metres long-range wireless security cameras have a base Power Hub station and the beginnings of decent local AI and more via subscription.

TP-Link Tapo have just released an all-in-one  Tapo H500 HomeBase AI security system that looks very promising. Review soon.

CyberShack’s view: World War Privacy Part 3 is about helping to prevent security incidents at home.

• AI can eliminate security camera privacy issues and false positive detections.
• Use a mix of devices, fixed, pan and tilt cameras, and window, door and motion sensors.
• If you think three or four cameras will cover it, you are leaving at least the same number of weak points. Think like a thief!

A decent AI security system starts at about $1,000 for a Homebase and two solar cameras, and  $2,000 for extra indoor cameras and sensors.

I spent $5,000 on HomeBase 3, a mix of Pan and Tilt (P&T) solar cameras, a solar camera, a floodlight camera (all with 4K colour night vision), a video doorbell, a palm smartlock, window and door sensors and an alarm panel.

Is that overkill? No. It stopped at least four potential break-ins and showed me that I still need to cover three more blind spots.

Do I feel safer? Yes, when you see video footage of the attempted break-ins and frequent attempted entry from the home’s waterside that are accompanied by expressions, ‘Shit, there are cameras’.

Do I feel surveilled? Initially, it was spooky when:

• The P&T floodlight followed you from the front gate down the driveway.
• Handed off to the P&T at the end of the drive.
• Handed off to the video doorbell.
• Handed off to the P&T internal camera.

You have to love AI camera tracking. Now AI knows me and all the residents, so it’s more reassuring that it is protecting us.

We have also supplied footage to the police and the news on street accidents and break-ins at nearby homes.  

Sad to say that this is not the world I was born into.