Is Eufy "Security" A Complete Lie?

[@EsotericArctos]

That Eufy thing is a really big concern, considering how they push their product as privacy focussed. That is a huge breach of trust and I would even say false advertising based just on what was proven..... Hopefully they sort that out quickly. I use to recommend Eufy, but I really can't now based on that information.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Yeah that was my biggest concern too Brendan. That disconnect between reality and marketing. Seeing eye to eye there

[@CaydenThyGamer]

They now are even more clear about it.

[@speedracer9132]

I predicted this during their security breach last year and eufy fans couldn’t rush faster to tell me how wrong I was about eufy/anker not caring about our privacy/security. I really hope this gives more people awareness of how little control/security they have over cloud based camera systems, not to mention how less expensive and better quality local NVR systems are without any need for subscription fees

[@AutomateYourLife]

You're saying I told ya so! 🤣

[@MightBeSmart]

Thete is np security breach. The data is a part if the recognition and you have to have a insane luck to guess the URL needed for it. If im not mistaken you have to guess 32 keys. And all data is not available (deleted) after 48 hours. It all know the name of recognition nothing else.

[@speedracer9132]

I like that hubitat is letting people choose which devices to connect. It’s beyond frustrating that smartthings forces google to take ALL devices which breaks so many things due to now having duplicates. Yes yes yes, I know the “duplicate home” work around but that does not solve all issues of duplicate devices because using assistant becomes useless for duplicate devices due to the assistant not knowing which “home” device you want to control

[@AutomateYourLife]

I like it lots too. Demo of all this coming up

[@coderkuma]

I'm not saying the eufy stuff is perfect or couldn't be improved but honestly there are a lot more common issues with larger risks with things people use more often just many popular websites.. I do agree the marketing is fairly misleading and should be more transparent about how their features work and what happens when they are enabled. It's pretty par for the course though for most companies. :/

[@leocatz]

Good to know about the EUFY concerns, but I guess at this point if someone wants to watch my yard, I don't care.

[@AutomateYourLife]

That's my personal take on it too.

[@Vamanos46]

@@AutomateYourLife They can potentially learn whether you have blindspots in the camera coverage and sneak up undetected. Also, by these comments you imply these are not safe to use indoors.

[@RoopsPhoto]

@@Vamanos46 people who use cameras indoors are creepy. What are you watching indoors? Watch all around outdoors, but only the holder of the key gets to spy on everyone inside the dungeon.

[@Metal_seer]

I just ordered a S340 camera and Homebase 380, before I found all these issues. I will be following it closely. I hope to see some Eufy adjustments. In any case, there will be no gEUFY caneras INSIDE my house or overlooking my backyard. If any agency or person wants to snoop on 13:36 images of my street view, they are welcome to do so (if they have that muvh time on their hands).

[@AutomateYourLife]

That's a good way to approach cameras anyways. No matter what!

[@SteveDOES]

Thanks Brian. Good Eufy coverage.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Hey thanks to you Steve!

[@haha-g7l-c7r]

all camera have same issue if they connect to internet!

[@eraldway]

I was doing a little digging and found this is only true with Eufy door bells. The door bell is also the only Eufy product that is not HomeKit compatible. HomeKit has very strong privacy rules and when a camera is homekit activated, it usually takes over the cameras settings. There are multiple settings on the Eufy app that I can't change to the fact that I have HomeKit connected to it. Apple also only allows door bells to be 100 percent homekit controlled with no access to third party servers. Maybe thats why Eufy still hasn't made a HomeKit compatible door bell.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Some of it is only the doorbell, but the cameras do a lot of the same ID work and thumbnail stuff

[@AAmtb]

It's all about risk...i need to see the stats of how many successful attacks occurred with a tech guy coordinating with a burglar to get the s/n, watch my yard, know when I'm not home... then contact the burglar break in.

[@CaydenThyGamer]

A lot of these issues have been fixed that you have mentioned.

[@thetilo8682]

Is there an update on the issue that doing a factory reset on a camera via the sync button erases the footage on the homebase?

[@AutomateYourLife]

I believe that was resolved actually!

[@wideo_ace5369]

Recently I found out why my Eufy SoloCam S40 and Solar Wall Light S120 would not record to HomeBase 3, because Eufy security is asking for my permission to access my phones mic and camera in order to record. I would not allow this. This is a security risk and my privacy violation. Obviously Eufy lied to us about the settings!!

[@AutomateYourLife]

I do think they'd need access to the mic if you want to talk through them. The camera? I don't get.

[@hot_wheelz]

As a retired security expert, I only use cameras that stream to my own local nvr / nas and the handle my own alerts etc locally. The information now publicly available while not complete is sufficient for me to recommend that everyone stop using Eufy cameras. This is far from finished yet and the exploits will be proven to be worse than we currently know. The fact that Eufy is essentially just denying any harm or wrong doing is in itself evidence enough that noone should ever touch this company or anything they make.

[@AutomateYourLife]

I really just want them to come out and talk about this and say what improvements they think they should make.

[@hot_wheelz]

@@AutomateYourLife absolutely, a little honesty and humility right now would go a long way. Unfortunately very typically of Chinese companies, they are more interested in saving face than they are in being honest and responding to valid criticism with humility.

[@jacklewis100]

There are some issues in the cameras which need to be improved (and probably will be) but I still fail to see anything sinister, deliberate or nefarious - the big claim, about stuff being in the cloud seems to be necessary for any online system with realtime notification. TheHookup had a good explanation. As for Linus 'using' his platform to grandstand, that's just his ego and Linus was going on various half-assed 3rd party reports and didn't understand or verify it himself. With power comes responsibility, whether that's Anker/Eufy or Linus....

[@AutomateYourLife]

100%, we gotta really think through how we respond to these situations. I do hope Eufy comes out with clarifications for all this.

[@whopua]

I've gotten pretty complacent with my smart home. I haven't looked into upgrading in a while. What advantage does matter have on devices like my OG nest home and nest minis?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Not much just yet, especially not smart speakers

[@matdriks]

What is the best alternative? I don’t want to use cables for my camera’s. Available in Europe (Netherlands)

[@prevaloir5362]

Amcrest

[@AutomateYourLife]

I think a lot of folks look at Reolink in your situation. They have a good lineup with different levels of camera and storage. Everything else is pretty similar and Eufy's homebase does keep a lot in your home.

[@HydroKyl240COG]

Hey, brotha. You’ve got a LOT of videos to peel through. I’m trying to find out how to make my SmartThings control stuff locally. It seems to still be rather slow.

[@AutomateYourLife]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iX_MZ3V_nbyCq5I

[@HydroKyl240COG]

@@AutomateYourLife I appreciate it. I’m just getting into networking my house and refreshing how everything is set up. I’ve already got 6 of the WV525KWEGUS pucks, but I found out you can use a hardwire backhaul with them. I also just recently found out my house has pre installed cat6, but was hidden by phone line jacks (was configured as phone access, rather than Ethernet). Sooo…I’m building my own router, hooking up a switch, and setting up these pucks better. Then digging into my smart devices (I want more local automations).

[@craigs.4302]

I left it for the trashcan to figure out... Blink right now, but eventually Nest depending on Matter support.

[@AutomateYourLife]

LOL you smash them on one of those videos I watched on Twitter?

[@mon-piggytv2696]

it's okay to use eufy cam3 if its for outside use? am i correct?

[@AutomateYourLife]

I still am. Understand their security is not perfect and they don't seem to have corrected the issues that are here in this video

[@johnsanders4384]

Anyone expecting their home security camera to be unhackable is a little bit silly. If you don't want people to be able to monitor your home camera don't have one. In my opinion this is true for all brands of Wi-Fi and Wireless cameras. I'm not sure I understand why people have decided eufy is the camera to attack they all have the same problem.

[@Dane-ish]

I think it is a reasonable expectation that home security cameras are not being monitored. We have that expectation with the operating system of our phones, with cameras, microphones and location data. Many home camera manufacturers also make phones (Google, Xiaomi, Samsung). Would people be silly to purchase them and expect their camera sensors not be monitored?

[@joannaconnelly4701]

I opted out from thumbnails by choosing Most efficient but I am still getting thumbnails and after speaking with the eufy engineer he stated that it is meant to work this way. Is there something wrong with this answer ?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Well it sure sounds wrong to me! I've never bothered to try though. If the app says that though...why wouldn't it? Makes no sense to me Joanna.

[@anthony4530]

I get the thumbnails, too- but directly from the Homebase when I am on my home’s WiFi network.

[@TMDude815]

Hi B....I'm happy again....now that Google has enabled Matter & Thread. I can now get back to automating every thing..... much laughter. Happy holidays

[@AutomateYourLife]

Yeah! Happy holidays!

[@FastRedPonyCar]

I still don't trust them. I've boxed up all my Eufy's other than a S40 out on my back deck only because I haven't run ethernet out there. All my 2k indoor cams have been replaced by Unifi G4 Instant cams and they're great. Feeding to my UDM Pro. My little dogs seem to be tripping the person detection AI but I'm willing to overlook that in exchange for knowing my footage is safe and I can kick the subscription. Same with my Ring doorbell. Seeing how Police/judge were able to confiscate all of a guy's outdoor AND indoor footage for a break in that occured at a neighbor's house and Ring facilitating that without his consent isn't cool. Got a G4 Pro doorbell on the way to replace the ring.

[@AutomateYourLife]

You'll enjoy the G4!

[@FastRedPonyCar]

@@AutomateYourLife Yep. I've worked at a couple of MSP's and installed several Unifi protect systems. They're great, especially if you're already using their networking/wifi/etc.

[@reidranger175]

Brian Help!:. This week the Alexa app asked me select / "Follow" some people & topics. I foolishly did & now I'm bombarded w/ junk all hrs of the day & night. I think technically they're Reminders. I've tried for over 3 hrs to delete, undo & trun off but I've failed 😤. Any ideas on how to undo what I've done? Hopefully you see this I posted late

[@AutomateYourLife]

Try checking your settings and notifications. I bet it turned on lots 🤣

[@reidranger175]

@@AutomateYourLife Thank you Brian - found it & solved/ fixed it by unfollowing everything. Gave you a $ thank you via my other account.

[@BrandonDoyleMN]

I appreciate your in-depth coverage, thank you!!

[@AutomateYourLife]

I appreciate you sir!

[@ednolan5754]

Knowing what you know, would you still purchase a EUFY system ? Also, if I only were to purchase outdoor cameras would that be a game changer?

[@AutomateYourLife]

It's tough to say. If it's in your house, my answer is 100% no right now. They haven't done enough to explain this situation or deal with it. If it's outdoor, sure! I still have mine outside and they're really powerful.

[@ednolan5754]

@@AutomateYourLife Thanks for giving me your opinion, I trust what you say. 👍

[@ypark2877]

Great overview of the eufy situation and other news for smart homes.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Thank you for watching!

[@Dc0sby]

I never trusted any company, all my Eufy are outside and my reolink cameras inside are on smart plugs that turn off when I'm home

[@AutomateYourLife]

Love that setup

[@c849243]

Thanks! All the BEST to you and Family this Christmas!

[@AutomateYourLife]

Oh same to you Big Bear! Too kind...too kind!

[@vinhennessy3885]

This way why I don’t have cameras inside my house.

[@AutomateYourLife]

A good plan always I think

[@johnkwolf]

Your did good thanks for letting me know. Happy holidays

[@AutomateYourLife]

Happy holidays!

[@maaaps]

Furthermore... by walking out to the street in front of my house and looking up the driveway using my eyes I was able to obtain the exact same view of my backyard as what I see on my camera oriented the same direction. How does Eufy explain this? I am outraged.

[@AutomateYourLife]

It's fun to watch the wide range of people's responses.

[@MikeS-7]

There's only one reason for you to have such poor security and that is to allow State actors easy access to the information. The very people that you would be concerned about most having easy access. I'm referring to US state actors.

[@AutomateYourLife]

😳😳

[@Redgascan]

My house is boring so why would anyone bother. You guys have too much time on your hands 😂😂😂

[@ronm6585]

Thank you Brian.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Thank you sir!

[@CarlDavison]

The Verge..... yes they are experts lol

[@AutomateYourLife]

Lol well this would be legal trouble the way they said it

[@brillest]

Hopefully you're not getting caught up in the hype. Unfortunately Paul has no idea about GDPR. Companies are allowed 30 days to purge data. This is easy enough to check, but for some reason, Paul decided to not verify the GDPR rules before accusing Eufy of violating them. As far as we know, those thumbnails are purged within a couple of days. And loading thumbnails to a server is the most efficient way to get them to your phone as notifications. This in itself does not imply Eufy has security gaps. Of course, it does not mean they could not do a better job at being secure, but as others have posted, the odds of someone being able to guess the string used in the URL to get to the thumbnail...? Same would be true for the live video stream. There's no evidence of any hacking which was made possible through his findings. Using his and Linus' definition, they should not do business with any company who has been hacked because by definition, that means there were gaps in their security. Of course, they are free to do what they want, but grandstanding and spreading misleading information is a big turn off, and makes me wonder what other information they've been passing is wrong as well.

[@AutomateYourLife]

I don't think I am! But I agree generally with your post here. That's mostly what Rob's video says...which I thought was perfect

[@johncook8023]

Thanks!

[@AutomateYourLife]

Too kind John! Thank you!

[@1MarkKeller]

Hmmm.

[@AutomateYourLife]

A penny for your thoughts

[@ernesthall7121]

I really enjoy your videos, but it’s super disappointing that you jumped on the eufy bandwagon for clicks super disappointing. Also they released a update to fix the sync and delete last week, you didn’t even do all your homework man. SMDH….

[@AutomateYourLife]

Sorry to hear that you are disappointed but two things from my perspective 1. If I was really just after clicks I would have posted a video about this topic about 2 days after the original investigation by Paul Moore. I actually don't expect this to do very well from a video standpoint and was trying to tell people from a public service standpoint that there might be an issue that they want to look at. That's how I approach everything on my channel. 2. I'm not sure that I would consider masking the public side data in the web app as a fix. I am interested to know what they did to fix the VLC issue and how they addressed the more concerning parts of this.

[@ernesthall7121]

@@AutomateYourLife Your video man nothing to be sorry about, I just honesty expect more, this issues is minor compared to ring actually handing over video to law enforcement. These content creators that are making a big deal out of peanuts is getting ridiculous. I mean Ring, Arlo, Blink they are all pretty much reliant on the cloud so everything recorded is in the cloud not just a few snap shots that are deleted after I think it’s 24-48 hours per regulations. Also most people forget that they aren’t that important for someone to put that much work into it in order to view them. Also if my cams are inside my house how did they get my S/N. Is someone really going to break in just to steal the serial numbers and leave, that’s a big risk for what’s most likely going to be a small outcome. When I say sync and delete, I mean they sent all my cams a update last week that disabled that feature. Holding the sync button for 10 seconds no longer works to delete all the videos. Lastly our photos are being taking in every public place we go and those places are keeping it for who knows how long, that snap shot eufy is taking is NOTHING compared to the privacy infractions we incur just from walking out of our homes each day.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Lots to unpack here but I did not know that they fixed the reset issue. They'd previously said it was expected behavior so I did assume there that they wouldn't be changing things

[@c849243]

Thanks for keeping us informed, Brian. You're my Tech Savior!

[@AutomateYourLife]

Just trying to keep up!