Public Resources - Email
I very recently began to toy/experiment with sending email when Motion was detected. I subsequently became aware of WAN Connection, WAN custom configuration and Public Resources in Web Advanced Options. My hope is that a user will be able to click on the 'view movie' link and it will play without them having to login. It is my assumption that configuring "Public Resources" will allow me to accomplish this. Yes/No? Assuming 'Yes' - I am at a loss as to what the syntax of a "resource" is? Might you please provide an example.
Thank You - cjs
Comments
-
While it's possible to use the "public resources" setting to allow access to movies without authentication, this isn't a good idea, as it would apply to all cameras and all movies. So a hacker could potentially use this to access your recordings. They would have to try to guess correct filenames (which include the camera name and date/time stamp), which reduces the likelihood of a successful hack, but it does expose this possibility.
Instead, it's better to configure your emails to include video clips rather than still images - the receiver of the email can then simply play the movie that is attached to the email. Attached movies won't be as long or high quality as the source recording, but it may provide the functionality you need. This can be configured at Settings > Email.
Otherwise, if you really do want to allow public resources, understanding the risks, I would be happy to provide further instructions to achieve this - let me know.
-
Hello Ben,
Thanks for your response and the information. I very much appreciate your do diligence and then some in regards security and integrity of information. That being said; I would like to receive further instructions re: use of Public Resources. I am aware of the risk involved and accept responsibility. Thanks Much.
Charlie
-
Hi Charlie, no problem, here's how to do it:
- Download and install the latest beta version of SecuritySpy (6.14b9). In testing this for you, I found that a tweak was needed to get this to work (because there are two layers of security for this request: one that requires an account to load the HTML page, and another that requires an account with specific permissions to access recordings to load the actual movie; the setting for public resources was bypassing the first but not the second layer).
- Add qmov,getfile to the "public resources" box in the advanced web settings. The first provides free access to the HTML page containing the movie, and the second provides free access to the actual movie.
I hope this does what you want - please report back once you've had a chance to test.
-
Ben,
Thank you. I will report back.
-
Hello Ben,
- Successfully Installed Beta
- Connected to a foreign network that should be unable to access LAN.
- I was unable to view video link - (good)
- Connected to home LAN via Wireguard VPN.
- I was able to access video page without fanfare.*
- How I may or may not use this feature, I do not know. But it is a nice option.
- Sweet - Thank You.
* However I was unable to view the video. Obviously this has nothing to due with new access privileges. I was encountering the same error previously when using email link and providing authentication. It is a video format issue which I have yet to figure out. I have tried different browsers. Cameras are configured to use H.265 format. I did revert to using H.264 on a camera with the same result but I did not spend a lot of time investigating.
As many others have stated. I will state once again. BenSoftware-BenSoftware/Support is a model which others might aspire/emulate and learn from.
Thank you.
Charlie
-
Hi Charlie, good to hear this does what you want. Though it is strange that the browser isn't playing back the file - usually this is an issue with H.265, as not all browsers support this (especially non-Mac), but H.264 should work everywhere. If this is an issue that you can't resolve, feel free to email us about it (ideally providing web access to one of these files via the emailed link) and we'll take a look for you.
Thank you for your kind words about our software and support!
-
Update re: video file playback.
I set the camera (Amcrest) to H.264 and restarted sSPY server for giggles even though sSpy immediately recognized the format change. Regardless of the browser used (Safari, Firefox, Mullvad) though a connection was successfully made to the sSpy server the video would not play. Safari got the closet in that it displays a video window with control bar. Selecting Play did not illicit a response. I subsequently moved the video file to Apache server running on the same MacMini and voilà. The video played. All this is being done locally. I edited the sSpy email link which defaults to https to http to see if perhaps that would make a difference as the server does not have a certificate. sSpy web log indicates it is receiving the request. There are no errors reported in sSpy log.
09/22/2025 14:59:59 192.168.0.226 GET /qmov?p=16/2025-09-22/09-22-2025%2014-47-00%20M%20FrontWalk
09/22/2025 14:59:59 192.168.0.226 GET /getfile/16/2025-09-22/09-22-2025%2014-47-00%20M%20FrontWalk
I opened the link in Safari on the same MacMini which is running sSpy as I thought that was as close as it gets to eliminating variables. No problem making a connection to server but the video does not play. Apache running on the same server with the same file returned video.
To be clear, this is by no means critical for me. I am going to try a few more things and will keep you appraised.
thanks
