Morepork - Spark home security

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#1364704 12-Aug-2015 15:24

andrew027: I'm not an expert in this stuff, but wouldn't you need GSM so the control panel unit can contact your mobile when there's an event? If I'm at work and somebody cuts the power or the phone line at my house, I won't be able to connect to my home broadband, but the control panel (with battery backup, as stated on Morepork's site) could still send me a message.

I generally avoid SMS for notifications - prefer things like Pushover where you can get delivery confirmations and message priorities - i.e. if my phone is on silent and I get a high priority Pushover notification it will alert me regardless.

But yes, if the cord is cut to your house (power and/or internet) then there is no way for your notification to get out. So in that situation a battery backed-up GSM solution would be better - agreed.

tripp

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#1364972 12-Aug-2015 20:53

It's good that they are trying out new things.
However saying that it does cost a bit of money. Most IP cameras these days comes with apps that do push notifications to devices or email you. For $500 you can get a couple of really good cameras that trigger off sound levels etc.

My setup at home is 3 cameras around the house, 1 in the living room, 1 in the hall way covering all ways into the house and 1 upstairs, all do push, all triggered off movement and sound. When it goes off it emails me pictures, loads pictures/video to FTP and pushes to my phone, I can then look and trigger the alarm or even talk to the people in the house. Upfront cost of about $400, no monthly cost after that.

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#1364977 12-Aug-2015 20:59

What are the legal implications of people self installing security equipment that currently is only permitted by a registered security technician? They're potentially breaking the law.

Bung

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#1365030 12-Aug-2015 21:37

sbiddle: What are the legal implications of people self installing security equipment that currently is only permitted by a registered security technician? They're potentially breaking the law.

The answer seems to be self install. From the Act's description of a Security Technician employee

"(a)installs or repairs on, or removes from, any part of any premises that are not owned or occupied by the security technician, the security technician's firm, or any of the security technician's partners—
(i)a burglar alarm or similar warning device "

Maybe the status of any Spark employee offering security advice as a consultant is more to the point.

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#1365057 12-Aug-2015 22:01

mrtoken: It's good that they are trying out new things.
However saying that it does cost a bit of money. Most IP cameras these days comes with apps that do push notifications to devices or email you. For $500 you can get a couple of really good cameras that trigger off sound levels etc.

My setup at home is 3 cameras around the house, 1 in the living room, 1 in the hall way covering all ways into the house and 1 upstairs, all do push, all triggered off movement and sound. When it goes off it emails me pictures, loads pictures/video to FTP and pushes to my phone, I can then look and trigger the alarm or even talk to the people in the house. Upfront cost of about $400, no monthly cost after that.

How do they connect to the internet?

Looks like the Morepork stuff is provided through alarm.com. Still interested in giving it a go.

Flickky

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#1365241 13-Aug-2015 08:50

Bung:
sbiddle: What are the legal implications of people self installing security equipment that currently is only permitted by a registered security technician? They're potentially breaking the law.

The answer seems to be self install. From the Act's description of a Security Technician employee

"(a)installs or repairs on, or removes from, any part of any premises that are not owned or occupied by the security technician, the security technician's firm, or any of the security technician's partners—
(i)a burglar alarm or similar warning device "

Maybe the status of any Spark employee offering security advice as a consultant is more to the point.

All of the support guys (i.e. the ones answering live chat and responding to your emails) and a few others that are very highly involved in the product went through PSPLA certification prior to launch - FYI :)

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#1365247 13-Aug-2015 09:02

The Control Panel product requires 3G/4G to communicate with Spark's servers. The RF Technology that Alarm.com uses between the control panel and the remote sensors and locks used to be unencrypted. Anyone geeky enough (e.g. me) and into RF (e.g. me) could probably build a wireless sniffer to capture the communications and probably unlock doors, trick sensors etc.

I found quite a bit of info about this online last night . .. The webcams use the home wireless, which means if you cut the mains to the house before you broke in there wouldn't be any video/photos without a UPS on the Internet Modem/WIFI/Camera.

dafman

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#1365261 13-Aug-2015 09:20

Hardware and ongoing pricing is too expensive for me, and the inability to move away from Spark as ISP is the killer blow. Think I'll stick My D-Link wireless camera with motion detection, mobile app and email alerts for $120 upfront, no monthly fees.

That said, it looks like a better commercial investment for Spark shareholders than Lightbox.

MikeB4

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#1365284 13-Aug-2015 09:46

When our current system was installed it included 6 motion sensors, 2 door sensors, Master Control, Garage security, Keypad, 2 remote controls which from memory was around $900 installed. The on going monitoring costs us $30.00 per month.
The Spark offering seems on point price wise.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

wasabi2k

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#1365288 13-Aug-2015 09:50

sergiotheghost: The Control Panel product requires 3G/4G to communicate with Spark's servers. The RF Technology that Alarm.com uses between the control panel and the remote sensors and locks used to be unencrypted. Anyone geeky enough (e.g. me) and into RF (e.g. me) could probably build a wireless sniffer to capture the communications and probably unlock doors, trick sensors etc.

I found quite a bit of info about this online last night . .. The webcams use the home wireless, which means if you cut the mains to the house before you broke in there wouldn't be any video/photos without a UPS on the Internet Modem/WIFI/Camera.

So the wireless thing seems to be a common complaint around wireless systems, but the attack vectors focus on jamming, which would prevent the alarm from going off by blocking sensors. Most modern systems seem to have the ability to detect jamming, but I am still trying to find any technical info on the exact models alarm.com use.

So given your statement, you would likely be able to jam sensors in particular areas, then break in. If someone was that interested in getting in to my house and would go to that much effort to figure our what alarm I used etc, then they are probably in the 0.0000000000001% and I guess I will have to rely on insurance. A wireless alarm will still cover me for stupid kids and smash and grab operations. Ditto for cutting power to my house. This isn't Ocean's 11.

As far as disarming/arming the alarm completely - I don't see any ability to actually arm/disarm over the wireless channel? That would be through an internet connection (3G/4G or Home Wifi). Again, without any detailed specs I could be wrong. I don't believe the RF the sensors use are a control channel for the alarm.

As far as unlocking doors - I hope you mean disable a door sensor. This system isn't controlling door locks.

Disclaimer: I am really exciting by this tech, but want to be clear on potential vulnerabilities too.

BigPipeNZ

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#1365384 13-Aug-2015 10:50

sergiotheghost: The Control Panel product requires 3G/4G to communicate with Spark's servers. The RF Technology that Alarm.com uses between the control panel and the remote sensors and locks used to be unencrypted. Anyone geeky enough (e.g. me) and into RF (e.g. me) could probably build a wireless sniffer to capture the communications and probably unlock doors, trick sensors etc.

I found quite a bit of info about this online last night . .. The webcams use the home wireless, which means if you cut the mains to the house before you broke in there wouldn't be any video/photos without a UPS on the Internet Modem/WIFI/Camera.

the video camera uses wifi and requires mains power, but the still image sensors operate via the mobile network and do not need mains power

The still image sensors have their own battery, and the alarm panel also has battery back-up.

so somebody cutting the power will ONLY be able to avoid the video camera, not the door sensors or still motion detecting camera.
Also you would get an immediate 'tamper' notification to your smartphone if that happens.

and yes, the door thing is only a sensor, it doesn't actually lock/unlock the doors.

as with any alarm system, if somebody is determined and resourceful enough there are ways around it. The purpose of an alarm is more to deter people from trying, especially the opportunistic thieves (and, happily, they also don't tend to be RF experts either)

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#1365394 13-Aug-2015 11:06

sergiotheghost: The Control Panel product requires 3G/4G to communicate with Spark's servers. The RF Technology that Alarm.com uses between the control panel and the remote sensors and locks used to be unencrypted. Anyone geeky enough (e.g. me) and into RF (e.g. me) could probably build a wireless sniffer to capture the communications and probably unlock doors, trick sensors etc.

I found quite a bit of info about this online last night . .. The webcams use the home wireless, which means if you cut the mains to the house before you broke in there wouldn't be any video/photos without a UPS on the Internet Modem/WIFI/Camera.

I believe the RF is encrypted, you maybe referencing another panel provider that had this issue that was explored during a recent Blackhat conference. They have also fixed the issue. So unlikely to be able to trick the sensors. The panel also detects and reports trouble on RF jamming.

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#1365428 13-Aug-2015 11:42

sbiddle: What are the legal implications of people self installing security equipment that currently is only permitted by a registered security technician? They're potentially breaking the law.

More importantly, how will your insurer consider self-installs?

________

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#1365433 13-Aug-2015 11:48

antoniosk:
sbiddle: What are the legal implications of people self installing security equipment that currently is only permitted by a registered security technician? They're potentially breaking the law.

More importantly, how will your insurer consider self-installs?

Hmmm, good question.

mixja

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#1365498 13-Aug-2015 12:08

Disappointing really...

Must be a Spark Broadband customer
$1000 outlay - far too high
Must be a Spark Broadband customer
$30 per month monitoring - I'd only pay $30 if the outlay was $0 - with some outlay, I'd only pay $20
Must be a Spark Broadband customer

Smells like another Tivo...

Spark Ventures is supposed to about innovation - not subjecting its customers to the traditional Telco lock you to my (small not big in this case) pipe and slap a logo on it approach...

Is this how a startup would introduce a new product to market?

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