Blink cameras are one of the most affordable smart cameras in the market with many features and a huge fan base that trusts the brand blindly. They tick all the essential boxes for an average consumer in the market for smart cameras.
But with any smart device that is connected to the internet 24×7, the possibility of hacking attacks is never zero, and Blink cameras are no exception. This is strictly a hazardous situation when it comes to smart cameras, as the hacker will immediately have access to your live streams.
Let’s take a look at some precautionary measures you can take in order to protect your Blink Cameras from being hacked.
Take care of your login credentials
Your Blink account ID and passwords are your only gateway to accessing your blink camera streams online. So it is imperative that you keep them safe and secure. Use a strong password to lock out your Blink account and only log in to the Blink app on trusted devices.
Never disclose your login credentials to anyone, and if possible use a secure password manager to store your credentials. This negates any chance of forgetting the password whilst making sure that you can have a very strong password.
Having a password manager can also help in ensuring that you can safely change your passwords on a regular basis, ensuring an exponential drop in the chances of your Blink account getting hacked.
Update your Blink Camera Firmwares
Security threats are on the rise with each passing day because of the billions of internet active devices (and counting!) in the world right now. Hackers seek out even the most unsuspecting of loopholes to gain access to systems without the admin’s consent.
But most smart home companies, including Blink, are very much aware of the situation and push out security loophole patches to their devices for each security threat they notice in the form of firmware updates. Firmware updates are not only used to solve popular issues such as the Blink camera’s motion sensor issues and the Blink not connecting to WiFi, but also to push important Over The Air (OTA) updates.
This is the primary reason why it is imperative you stay on the latest security patches possible, and ensure your device is on Blink’s priority list to get proper security updates.
Use Trusted Peripherals and Third-Party Devices With Blink
With everyone slowly entering the smart home market space to etch their mark on the audience, there are opportunities for companies with shady objectives to sneak into other smart home ecosystems and extract private information from the system
Since the devices inside an ecosystem such as Blink are interconnected and share information with each other, it is possible for the other devices to send and receive information under the false tag of diagnostics. With such integrations, these services can also invoke functions such as enabling Blink camera’s recording feature without you noticing!
This is primarily the reason why Blink has restricted its scope of integration to select reputed brands that have strict privacy policies against such malpractices.
But there still exist other third-party integrations like IFTTT that help with the mutual integration of two services, and shady companies typically utilize this to get their information on you, with some cases even leading to ransomware installations and extortion!
To prevent this, always use peripherals and third-party devices to connect to your Blink camera from reputed brands. Blink does have a dedicated list of brands it supports on its website and it is best to stick to that.
If you currently have an accessory that you use frequently with your Blink camera, make sure that they are from a well-known brand with strict privacy policies. It is best to stay away from cheap knock-off brands in such cases.
Final Thoughts
Blink cameras work as a fantastic security camera for most folks without breaking a sweat, and their sheer capability to stand the test of time and environmental conditions is often lauded at
But at the same time, it should be noted that they are software-reliant devices, unlike traditional security cameras that barely use the internet, and therefore need support from the software end as well.
Brands like Blink have to keep an eye on sustaining their companies too, and can only support their devices for so long. So they usually follow an updated schedule, typically 2-5 years where they update the security patches and then slowly render the older devices outdated.
So as long as you keep your Blink camera on the latest updates, and follow the key security recommendations to the dot, your system will stay as secure as it possibly can.
