Changing your IP camera password has become more important than ever thanks to the major hack of security cameras and video recorders in October 2016. That event was quickly followed by yet another damaging hack attack using cameras and recorders. Both of these hacks caused major website outages that lasted for hours. Other sites were so congested that visitors could barely access the pages.

Criminals who use malware to find susceptible devices, such as cameras and recorders, initiated the hacks. These susceptible devices are typically protected by little more than a factory-default username and password.  Hackers use this default login information to take control of these vulnerable devices. They then use this army of devices to send an insane volume of messages that quickly overwhelm the targeted websites.

That’s why it’s important to change the original IP camera password on your home and/or business IP cameras so they can’t be used as part of a damaging hack.

Froula Alarm Systems installs IP cameras and recorders from manufacturers that make unique passwords mandatory. But if you’re using equipment installed before we got involved, we highly recommend changing the login info.

Rather than searching through a stack of manuals for the login information for each device, we found a much simpler solution. IPVM, a world leader in video surveillance information, created a manufacturer’s list of cameras that includes the default user names and passwords.  Click here to view IPVM’s list of manufacturers and default login info. Once you enter the default usernames/passwords on your cameras, you can then change them to unique ones that will better protect your equipment from being used in a hack.

Looking for more ways to protect your equipment from being used in a hack? Read our previous blog post on Five Ways to Protect You Smart Devices from Hackers.