Home security cameras are cameras that a household fits at its door or inside its home, and watches from a phone app. They include the video doorbell, which is a doorbell with a camera, a microphone and a speaker, as well as indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi cameras and home alarms. Shops sell them as home CCTV, Wi-Fi cameras or smart doorbells.
Each camera is a small computer. It records video, notices motion, and joins the home Wi-Fi through the home gateway or a Wi-Fi router. Over the internet, it connects to the maker's cloud servers, and the owner's phone app reaches the camera through those servers. This three-part design is described in IoT architecture.
Imagine a working couple in Kochi who are both at their offices at 2 p.m. A delivery rider arrives with a parcel and presses the video doorbell. The doorbell starts recording, and the maker's cloud sends an alert to both their phones within a few seconds. The husband opens the app and sees the rider live. Using the doorbell's microphone and speaker, he asks the rider to leave the parcel with the security guard downstairs. The 30-second clip is saved, so the couple can watch it again in the evening.
Where is the video stored? Some cameras record to a memory card inside the camera. Others upload clips to the maker's cloud, which usually needs a monthly or yearly subscription. Clips should be protected with encryption, both on the way to the cloud and while they are stored there.
A camera at home is also a risk. If it keeps its factory password, or misses the security fixes for its firmware, an attacker can find it on the internet and watch the home. Large groups of hacked cameras have also been used to attack websites, by flooding them with traffic. So owners should change the password, turn on a second login step in the app, and keep automatic updates on. India now also requires CCTV cameras sold in the country to pass security tests.
Some cameras link to the rest of the home. A camera can set off the siren of a home security system, or turn on a smart light when it sees movement at night.
Home cameras differ from the camera systems in offices and malls. There, dozens of cameras send video to a video management system (VMS), which security staff watch, often with software that analyses the video. A home camera has only one set of viewers: the family.