Wyze Cam Hacked

I have 4 Wyze cams (V2) that I have had for a couple of years now. My neighbor also purchased one shortly after they saw mine (which means they may be monitoring this forum). Initially, I thought the problems I was having with my cameras had something to do with the updates. However, I now highly suspect my neighbor has hacked into my account (I have 2 factor authentication on, and I’ve changed my password a couple of times) and/or is using an illegal jammer to block my wi-fi signal to my cameras. Several illegal activities resulting in damages to my property have been occurring and somehow the signal on my cameras is completely blocked each time thereby resulting in a chunk of footage missing for the exact period of time the event occurs. I know this because I observed some suspicious activity and went back to review the footage and it was missing for the exact period of time the event occured. My cameras are also being randomly shut off or the infrared light will be turned on, when I haven’t changed any of the settings on my cameras. Additionally, the footage is extremely grainy and/or or discolored and they seem to have the ability to make it worse simply by doing something on their phone (I watched this happen). The other thing that is occurring is the data transfer rate is very low and drops down to zero frequently causing the cameras to skip time while streaming. They’ll skip 3-15 seconds so watching live footage is not useful and the cameras will keep authenticating over and over again. All of my cameras were working normally earlier this year, They streamed normally and had clear footage, my high-speed internet speed hasn’t changed, and the location of my wi-fi modem hasn’t changed, so it isn’t anything I’ve changed. They have rendered my cameras useless, so I’ve had to resort to a wired security system. Does anyone have any useful feedback on how I can prevent these cameras from being becoming useless paperweights?

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Hi @Sienna If you have 2FA working then doubt that has been hacked. More likely when your neighbor put up a WiFi connected camera on 2.4Ghz it required an extender to get good signal and that is causing interference with your connection.
Some USB 3.0 devices can also cause interference on the 2.4Ghz band.

Walk near your camera and check the available WiFi signals with your cell phone. Usu have to wait 15 seconds for each reading. See if your neighbor signal is close to yours near the camera.

Suggest adding an inexpensive WiFi extender or upgrading to a mesh network.

TP-Link N300 WiFi Extender $19.95 at Amazon
GL.iNet GL-AR150 mini Repeater Bridge $25.49 (Doesn’t come with power supply)

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How do you explain the specific periods of missing footage or cameras being turned off? They will be recording 24/7, then specific footage will missing when something happens. That seems a little too coincidental?

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Common jamming devices have an operating range of 9 meters (29.5 ft).
Nope, don’t believe in coincidence. Yes, sounds like a problem neighbor. :cloud_with_lightning:

  • Add an inexpensive WiFi extender located near the camera to reduce jamming.
  • Check your router log to see if there were unknown devices connected.
  • Use WPA2 encryption on the WiFi + Use a stong password.
  • Change the default SSID name to something custom.
  • Turn off guest networking and sharing.

“. . .so I’ve had to resort to a wired security system” :sunglasses:

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I have escalated this up the chain. Thanks for reporting and for the contributions.

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Why was it reported? I’m seeking help with the significant problems I’m having with my cameras.

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Hi @Sienna
Reporting has nothing to do with your problems, It is simply a precaution in case there is possibly an attempt to hack the camera. Wyze takes security very seriously and wants to make sure that it’s users are secure.
You’re in the right spot to ask for help! This is a user-to-user forum and there are many very willing, helpful and competent users here!

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I tried to contact the Wyze customer support about this and sent them some examples of the footage quality and time periods where my cameras have no footage and I never heard anything back. I really hope the community can help me!

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I’m with the others that I highly doubt your neighbor has hacked your account. The exception is if they (or someone else) are sophisticated and have a spy bot on your phone so that they can see anything you do. If that is the case, you can change the password a million times and they still will have it. And there are ways to spoof the phone so that a 2FA probe will come to them rather than you. Yes, that is getting somewhat sophisticated, but certainly doable.

You said that sections of time are missing. Are you recording to the SD card or only to the cloud? Remember that if it is to the cloud only, you are dependent on your internet and WiFi being connected IN REAL TIME. Temporarily jamming a WiFi is darn near child’s play to do. Generally outright jamming is intentional, but there are a few things that can cause a similar result that are not intentional.

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Agreed @K6CCC The tell was “Grainy / Discolored”, WiFi jamming, less controlled access.

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SD card. They would have never had access to my phone, but my home was on the market and people were entering my home and would have seen the cameras and could have copied information off of them or my router. I changed my router password to be on the safe side.

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You may want to call Wyze Customer Support about this issue!
By phone: (206) 339-9646 Available Monday - Friday 5 am - 6 pm PT and Saturday 8 am - 4 pm PT
You can then speak to someone on how to email footage.

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I did and I sent them examples, I haven’t heard back from them and it’s been a couple of weeks.

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Calling is faster then emailing!

Hi @Sienna Did they give you a Service Ticket number? Post it here or send it to Tomp.

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I called them and they escalated to a higher up. That individual asked me send them example footage, which I sent. That was the last I heard.

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I’ve had that happen on one camera. I’ve got 4 cameras outside, 2 V2’s and 2 Pan’s. 3 of the cameras recorded 2 dogs running through my yard, the 4th had thst exact minute missing from the SD card.
My guess is the process of uploading the event clip somehow affected the SD recording.

Sorry to hear about this. That definitely sounds like an uncomfortable situation! If you give me your support ticket number, I’d be happy to poke the team about it for you.

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WiFi security is important. You may think you have a strong password on your SSID, but odds are it isn’t very strong at all. Be sure you disabled WPS on your router. (This provides the ability to push a button to setup new devices.) WPS is VERY vulnerable.

WPA2 security has a very well known flaw as well that people can exploit to obtain the 4-way handshake whenever a device connects to your WiFi network. They can then take those captured packets and use various websites / tools to crack your password. Believe it or not, password length is the easiest way to secure your SSID.

I use this site to check my SSID passwords: Password Strength Checker

I used to use relatively simple passwords that were 10-15 characters long. Then I started to experience strange issues after a new neighbor moved into the hood. Now my SSID passwords are between 30 - 40 characters long and contain upper case, lower case, numbers, spaces, and special characters.

Something like this makes a good password that is easy to remember:
4Today “TheySay” 1Will beG0ne!

Another trick I like to use is to incorporate crazy street names that don’t appear in any dictionary. Or use words that don’t show up in the English dictionary.

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The wifi dropping is not going to stop the sd card recording, so use an SD card. if they have hacked your 2FA I’d be more worried about my bank account, than some camera footage.
Lastly, can’t you just make an attempt to reconcile whatever it is?