Stolen camera and data

I have a number of cameras monitoring a vacation home. I am wondering… if a camera was stolen what kind of information could the thief retrieve from my stolen camera ? Obviously he would have access to the SD card, but could he easily hack into my home wifi account, or my YI account ? The wifi information has to be stored on the camera. I would assume. Has anyone ever researched this ? Thank you.

Hello @jbucking, in regards to your query, if the camera was stolen. The micro SD card can be formatted through the YI Home application and the network information will be removed once the camera is deleted through the YI Home app.

I would assume the stolen camera would have to attached to the thief’s wifi somewhere and I would need to be able access that wifi in order to instruct the camera to reformat the SD card, or delete its information. The chances of me being able to give the camera instructions once it is stolen seems highly unlikely.

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What a bummer! I am sorry to hear about the theft of your cameras.

Your assumptions are correct. It would have to attach to the thief’s wifi.

All-in-all. We are sorry to hear that happened.

Perhaps a security update could be applied whereby a stolen camera cannot he used on another WiFi without having a release code given by the previous account holder.

This could be applied using the unique identifier camera ID.

Of course this would mean if owner one wanted to sell his camera he would need to ensure deletion had occurred and fully from his account prior to a sale.

In addition I assume data is saved to a SD card dumb then? Would it be possible to make this encrypted. And require the account password when trying to view on a computer.

If have not actually had a camera stolen. I am just curious what kind of information could be at risk if a thief takes a camera. The SD card is probably not a big deal if only “monitoring videos” are stored on it. I am more interested in whether home wifi passwords, etc. are retrievable from a stolen camera. If so, then the information on the camera might be more valuable than the camera itself, and a security update would certainly be in order. It would seem to be something that is worth looking into.

Wouldn’t the thief have to reset the camera to use it on their own wifi?

When I change my wifi Pw I have to reset all my cameras to that pw…

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Yes. He he would have to reset the wifi if he actually wanted to use the camera for his own use. I am wondering what information might be gained from the camera if stealing information was the thief’s intent. Like, what information is stored and accessible on the camera to a tech savvy thief.

That’s why other manufacturers lock devices to accounts meaning that a stolen camera cannot be added to any other account or wifi so essentially meaning the device is nothing more than a doorstop.

I may buy a cheap one on the Friday deals just to have a play around with why the cameras store inside them and what could be accessed

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I would be interested in what you discover. Thanks for taking an interest.

If I can do anything ;). I used to be able to many moons ago. But would be interested to know if anything is stored locally in the camera

I would be interested also, but not sure if we should broadcast the systems weaknesses to everyone online… I would suggest researching the issue and forwarding to Support@yitechnology.com, plus feel free to pm me and I will try to keep the fire burning…

@jbucking yes, if anything found, please forward to support@yitechnology. We would not like that broadcast indeed :wink:

I can’t access to my yi home camera amd i camt find it on my account

@Steven_Kami hello Iam a big fan of your technology and i really appreciate your help.

I’m far away from home and my yi home camera is turned off and no one can check it for me. I have set of four yi home indoors camera, but i don’t have the barcode.

Can you please guide me how i can put it back on my account. how i can know location if it.

Ps:the other yi home camera are working and there’s electricity but i this only camera i cant find it on my account .

Thank you in advance

How long has this camera been off ? Can you see it shown as an inactive camera at the bottom of the app ?

The other 3 camera are working but only this one is not working. I have set of 4 cameras and im far away from home.

My neighbor back home check it for me it’s missing too so someone stole it from me put how can have the access to reset the camera and activated as new one without my permission. And i wantit back because i bought it in full price and the guarantee still working. How can access it back on my account i need your help pkease. @jbucking

I have over 20 cameras at various locations. When one a camera goes off line normally it does not completely “disappear”. The offline camera will show at the very bottom of the app as “offline” and the show options to “delete it” or “refresh it”. About 25% of the time the “refresh option” will fix it, otherwise the camera will need to be physically powered off and back on , I have never had the problem you are describing (the way you are describing it.)

Hey @Marianne! Thank you so much for contacting us and reaching out. I am so sorry for the delay.

You do not have any access to the camera at home? That may be a problem in reseting the camera.

Have you logged in and out of your account?

When do you return home?

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