Brands made by Dahua and HikVision

Comments

• Ben

  May 2021 edited May 2021

  This is very useful, many thanks for posting. Therefore any camera by a manufacturer mentioned on these lists that is actually an OEM of Dahua or Hikvision will work with SecuritySpy.
• brenna

  May 2021

  I'm a bit confused. Was the purpose of the list to illustrate cameras that work with SS or as a warning (Banned by US gov)? I never thought of an exposure at the camera level as it sits behind the FW. Is this a concern (or am I posting something in the wrong area)
• Ben

  May 2021 edited May 2021

  From our point of view, these are useful lists as they show brands that are certain to be compatible with SecuritySpy. Otherwise, it is sometimes difficult to guarantee whether some unknown camera is compatible until it's actually tested.
  
  While US government institution are now not allowed to purchase Dahua or Hikvision cameras over (ostensibly) national security concerns, I don't think there should be any reason why ordinary consumers should avoid these cameras. They are generally great value, work well with SecuritySpy, and are easily available worldwide.
  
  One concern about these cameras is that they tend to make frequent outgoing connections over the Internet to Chinese servers, sending unknown data. There could be legitimate reasons for this (e.g. diagnostic data to improve future products) but the worry is that other data is being sent that some may consider a breach of privacy, and all this is done without explicit permission from the user.
  
  Outgoing connections aren't blocked by firewalls by default - only incoming connections. If you are worried about any of this, the best solution is to segregate the cameras on a separate local network, which completely cuts them off from all Internet connectivity.
• brenna

  May 2021

  Ben, thanks. Very insightful. Curious, do all cameras send data outside the network (other than auto update)?
• Ben

  May 2021

  Yes, this is fairly typical behaviour for many cameras to varying degrees. But Dahua and Hikvision cameras seem to make unsolicited outgoing connections more than most, and this is a concern because these are large companies with Chinese state ownership.
  
  As an individual, I wouldn't be too worried, especially as I can take steps to prevent these connections with minimal effort. But I can understand why the US government has taken the decision to ban them.