Hikvision alarm system

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  No Username on 17/02/2020 - 18:57

  Seeing that the system is Hikavision I would be paranoid since its owned by the state government of China.
  In regards to the 3g/4g support. Do you know if it supports the Australian 3G and 4G bands?

  You should have gone with Samsung Smart Things, ADT or Bosch.

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  eug on 17/02/2020 - 20:43

  I think it is just paranoia. Neither Hikvision nor the Chinese government care about what time you're at home, or what you do on your network at home.

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    iDroid on 17/02/2020 - 21:36

    That may be some what true.

    Except, they could be positioning for a time when they do care (think if war breaks out - they have surveillance, networks (wired and wireless), etc available at their disposal for what ever power play they choose).

    It's pretty scary when you think the level of infiltration they likely do have (whether they intend to use it or not).

    • 

      eug on 18/02/2020 - 13:38

      Except, they could be

      And that's what paranoia is. :)

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        iDroid on 18/02/2020 - 15:01

        Not really. Paranoia is driven by beliefs influenced by fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality.

        There is nothing delusional or irrational to believing that they may be positioning as described.

        Heck if we wanted to get serious about it, they've already uncovered a LOT of backdoors in Chinese made telco equipment, switches, etc.

        I still buy and use said equipment without fear.

        • 

          eug on 18/02/2020 - 17:13

          @iDroid:

          Paranoia is driven by beliefs influenced by fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality.

          Often, but not always. People who don't wear tinfoil hats can be paranoid too. People who fixate on "what if…" scenarios can be considered paranoid.

          Don't ride a motorcycle! What if you get into an accident?
          Don't fly Malaysia Airlines! What if they crash again?
          Don't use Huawei alarms! What if World War 3 breaks out against China, and China decides to take over everyone's home alarms?

          they've already uncovered a LOT of backdoors in Chinese made telco equipment, switches, etc.

          Who are "they", and what backdoors have been discovered?

          Do keep in mind that regardless of how the media sensationalizes things, there's a difference between a backdoor and a bug or simply poor programming practices.

          A backdoor would be like how the NSA intercepted Cisco routers and installed hidden surveillance tools in them.

          An indirect backdoor would be like the CIA secretly owning Crypto AG and deliberately weakening the encyrption so they could crack the encryption used by governments worldwide, or the NSA finding bugs in an operating system and keeping it to themselves so they can gain access to computer networks.

          A bug or poor programming practices is like what happened to Huawei.

          Calling the numerous bugs in Huawei's software "backdoors" is like saying Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android all have backdoors because bugs keep getting discovered. Was it put there on purpose, or was it a result of human error?

          Or is it a case of, if a Western government does the spying it's OK, but if the Chinese do it, it's not OK?

          Not much happened after it was discovered that the NSA was spying on the German chancellery for decades. Can you imagine what the reaction would be if it was the Chinese who were doing the spying?

          I'm pretty sure the Chinese are spying on other countries - I think every country is spying on every other country. But thanks to the huge amount of scrutiny Huawei is undergoing right now, they're probably the least likely brand to be used for spying or future hacking purposes.

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            iDroid on 18/02/2020 - 18:48

            @eug: I'm familiar with what a backdoor is :) I've injected enough of my own unintentional bugs in software. Backdoors? None intentional, yet.

            Don't ride a motorcycle! What if you get into an accident?
            Don't fly Malaysia Airlines! What if they crash again?
            Don't use Huawei alarms! What if World War 3 breaks out against China, and China decides to take over everyone's home alarms?

            Agreed. I never said to not use these devices.

            Chinese government care about what time you're at home, or what you do on your network at home.

            I only accept that it's a possibility they can contain components which could be used to gain advantage (spy/espionage/etc)

            Just the same as I accept the possibility that my computer may be infected with a virus. Do I believe it is? No. But I most certainly accept the possibility that it may be.

            Let's not inflate my post to be an anti Chinese influenced post. It's not, I buy lots from china daily, I like Chinese people, I like Chinese food, I have Chinese friends.

            Or is it a case of, if a Western government does the spying it's OK, but if the Chinese do it, it's not OK?

            Hell no, ALL governments do it. It's their peace time activity of choice.

            My point is that the vast majority (for most purposes all) of electronic devices sold in Australia (likely globally) have components manufactured in China. I don't think there is another country that has this privileged or capability.

            I may be paranoid to think this, or others may be naive to not.

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              eug on 18/02/2020 - 19:12

              @iDroid:

              Backdoors? None intentional, yet.

              That's what I gathered too, from what I've read. The media sensationalizes a lot, so 'bug' becomes 'backdoor' which is a lot more clickbaity and paints a very different picture to non-IT-literate folk.

              So what were you referring to when you said:

              they've already uncovered a LOT of backdoors in Chinese made telco equipment, switches, etc.

              Were you referring to bugs and/or sloppy coding practices? How is it different to the numerous bugs found in Western hardware and software? At what point does a bug become a backdoor?

              Just the same as I accept the possibility that my computer may be infected with a virus. Do I believe it is? No. But I most certainly accept the possibility that it may be.

              Sure, but why are people extra-afraid of brands like Hikvision when even Axis have had numerous security bugs?

              Hell no, ALL governments do it. It's their peace time activity of choice.

              Yup. But did you notice how when it was shown that the US spied on the German chancellery, nobody really batted an eye? Meanwhile, there has been no evidence of any spying done by Huawei/Hikvision etc, yet plenty of people are afraid of their devices. It's totally OK if the US does it, but not if China does it.

              Let's not inflate my post to be an anti Chinese influenced post.

              Sorry, that wasn't my intention. But do bear in mind that your first post, you described how you found it scary that the Chinese have 'infiltrated' computer and CCTV networks and that they're simply positioning themselves now to somehow take advantage of their infiltration if a war breaks out. You've already framed them as the enemy and feel like they're already making preparations right now with war in mind.