Signal jamming ?? home security camera?

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#3359059 31-Mar-2025 14:36

allywild:

Sorry, I'm pretty sure they are hard wired, it's Hikvision.

i think we got thrown off by the "signal jamming" part of your question. if it's wired, the system should be pretty much immune to this - unless you have really terrible cables and/or they somehow physically tapped into your wiring.

allywild

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Geek
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#3359061 31-Mar-2025 14:38

richms:

The issue is that there may be a small glitch on the wifi - perhaps if you have extenders it is moving between the 2 networks and the NVR loses its connection to it, then the ARP has to time out before it will reconnect etc if it has moved to a repeater. Or the camera is rebooting because its lost connection. There really is not much to diagnose on this.

But a deauther is an easy to make thing that will affect 2.4GHz devices - just need an ESP module and some easy to find software, it will kick off things it finds. Management frames are sent at a low speed so the range can be good that they can hit things from, particually as the camera is outside and can probably see devices 100m away. The cheap ESP deauth only works on 2.4GHz, there is another board that will do 5GHz but the feedback I have had is that its pretty bad.

WPA3 brings protected frames as a requirement, but good luck finding a camera that implements it.

One solution to that is to use a proprietary wireless camera that is not wifi, but then you are just at the mercy of obscurity stopping it from happening.

Or just installed wired PoE or coax HD cameras that are not subject to wireless interference.

I've checked the camera logs, and there doesn't seem to be anything that would suggest the camera going offline, although perhaps I'm looking for the wrong notification?

Hikvision has lots of options to search by in the logs.

Interesting you bring up ESP module, I've noticed some extra devices on Bluetooth recently, like when you turn it on/off and it shows you available devices. Found a BLE/BT scanner app and there were some devices come up with more info/manufacturers. I think it was ESP32? And then also Zigbee xbee? Seem to be on our property according to the distance but no idea where or what, had done a quick google and seemed linked to home automation? Bit over my head really

allywild

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#3359062 31-Mar-2025 14:42

nitro:

allywild:

Sorry, I'm pretty sure they are hard wired, it's Hikvision.

i think we got thrown off by the "signal jamming" part of your question. if it's wired, the system should be pretty much immune to this - unless you have really terrible cables and/or they somehow physically tapped into your wiring.

Oh gosh, I'm terribly sorry 😞 obviously not my area of expertise, hence why I came here, but appreciate need to be very specific to get appropriate response.

I never even knew about jammers until another neighbour suggested, one of the TV's would disconnect from the internet every 11 minutes. Without fail. Every day.

Ended up setting up guest network and connecting to that, problem solved.

No problem whatsoever with anything internet related in 2 years until recently, never even had to reset the router

allywild

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#3359063 31-Mar-2025 14:44

olivernz:

So most likely cause is bad WiFi coverage and/or crowded Wifi channel. But outages that long are not really what you'd expect.

If I was a criminal I would definitely use a jammer. Hence my cameras are all PoE. But most crims I have seen so far lack the deeper insights to life to do that.

As for cell phone reception, that is totally different bands and likely unrelated.

Oh and I managed to figure out how to move the channel about a week ago as yes it was crowded, I found one that had nothing else on it, but then I checked today and same ssids are on there including two hidden network?

Gordy7

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#3359117 31-Mar-2025 14:57

@allywild you say:

This has happened at different times on each camera, funnily enough at times when we wanted to check the footage in the last week

My car was broken into it seems a few days ago, and there is periods of time where no footage is recorded on the closest camera.

Also that the camera are hardwired to a PC.

My question is if you checked the recording PC do you find continuity of camera video records?

Any time scheduling in the cameras?

One hack I have read about is laser blinding of security cameras. Any bright flashes recorded before the car break-in event?

Gordy

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#3359130 31-Mar-2025 15:23

allywild:

When viewing camera footage simultaneously from two cameras, there are periods where one camera 'freezes' while other keeps clicking over. The frozen camera then catches up to the other one some time later.

Most likely the motion triggered record time had simply expired and recording had stopped, the cameras are operating independent of each other so aren't recording in sync.

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#3359132 31-Mar-2025 15:33

Spyware:

allywild:

When viewing camera footage simultaneously from two cameras, there are periods where one camera 'freezes' while other keeps clicking over. The frozen camera then catches up to the other one some time later.

Most likely the motion triggered record time had simply expired and recording had stopped, the cameras are operating independent of each other so aren't recording in sync.

They both record 24/7, not just on motion

allywild

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#3359134 31-Mar-2025 15:45

Gordy7:

My question is if you checked the recording PC do you find continuity of camera video records?

Any time scheduling in the cameras?

One hack I have read about is laser blinding of security cameras. Any bright flashes recorded before the car break-in event?

There are motion 'events' that you can view, unfortunately these pick up everything so there'll be 100+ events every day. I noticed last week that when you try to view these, you can see the event list on screen, but it says video not found when try to play. Had been meaning to get it better set up so it picks up people crossing boundaries etc. But first time that's ever happened. I'd been viewing footage from the 24/7 recording instead with both cameras on screen.

I'd tried to search on the night I believe the break in happened, I go to bed late and neighbours up super early so only period of 4 hours really where everything quiet and dark. One camera has stalled, the other still normal.

I'd searched day before too. Neighbours across street have no footage of the same times .

Then yesterday there was a car stopped in the right of way in view of other camera, for a while. The footage stops for about 5 minutes and doesn't show the car getting there, but shows about a minute of person walking around the car looking into our place briefly, dusting their hands off, they get back in the car and it freezes again, then it catches up and the car disappears, don't see it drive off as normally would.

No flashes that I could see

Just very weird

neb

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#3359148 31-Mar-2025 16:25

olivernz: If I was a criminal I would definitely use a jammer.

You're dealing with people whose best career option besides ditchdigger is breaking-and-entering, not Mossad. There are professional gangs in Europe going for high-value targets that use stuff like this, but not some random crim in NZ.

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#3359151 31-Mar-2025 16:34

How can you say they record 24/7 when they clearly are NOT.

allywild

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#3359153 31-Mar-2025 16:44

Spyware:

How can you say they record 24/7 when they clearly are NOT.

They record continuous and 'events'

Yes one or the other has skipped a period of time in the last week, but otherwise 24/7.

Not cameras that only record on motion detection

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richms

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#3359175 31-Mar-2025 17:10

You need to figure out if they are directly connected to a NVR that is powering them on additional ports, or using the rest of your network on a single flat network with a PoE swtich powering them.

The latter can cause problems for IP cameras if there it too much chatty crap on the LAN from mDNS etc.

Richard rich.ms

Tinkerisk

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#3359291 1-Apr-2025 04:22

nitro:

Tinkerisk:

Security cameras should not use WiFi, ever.

i have to disagree with the "ever" part. while it is certainly ideal from a reliability point of view, most of us aren't securing Fort Knox.

in fact, for residential purposes it's more of a (hope to be a) deterrent, or something to present as evidence. and wifi can be made reliable - radio jammers are illegal in NZ. there are also options with built-in batteries that'll keep recording even on a wifi interruption and/or power outage.

all i'm saying is that it's better to have a wifi one, than none at all.

I don't care how YOU do it. If you spend money on a security camera, then it should be one - otherwise it's not useful surveillance. This has nothing to do with optimal conditions. Either do it right or hang a toy.

Jammers are illegal everywhere, just like burglars. 😁

Regarding cameras with inbuilt batteries:

These are taken along completely, including the internal recording. So, as a home security expert, you wouldn't exactly be expected to have any experience. Professional burglars first spy on a house for days and then take their time to work through the list.

You can hang up as many pretty, completely cordless designer cameras as you like, just don't call them security cameras.

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#3359302 1-Apr-2025 07:22

Tinkerisk:

You can hang up as many pretty, completely cordless designer cameras as you like, just don't call them security cameras.

I 1000000% agree with this also as a Security consultant for many large companies and organizations.

Every one raves about these wireless cameras, but what happens when they too go missing! as that would be the first thing i would take.

You need to confirm that you have a Hard wired NVR, even show a pic of the back of the unit as that could explain a lot as to if its IP or tvi or analogue, then you can start jumping ot conclusions and working out whats going on.

It could be that the NVR has finally decided to Defalcate the linen and no longer wants to work as it should or it could be early signs of a failing drive, it could also be a failing camera, or the cable could be failing, the list can go on.

At some commercial places we have cameras that are old as the hills and they still work, particularly one camera which is just an over view and not for security, this one needs a reboot every 9 or 12 months as it just stops responding at all, we have replaces everything but the camera and still it persists, the client only requires a overview so its not so critical.

nitro

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Ultimate Geek
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#3359305 1-Apr-2025 07:43

ah, so uptight. neither do i care about YOUR OWN preference.

i do totally get it. having "security" cameras wired is preferred. but there's a ton of evidence where those cheap wifi cameras have certainly helped. ask the US police how many times they've asked for footage from Ring cameras.

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