Hi!

I’ve gone down the rabbit hole that is home security cameras. I’ve decided on my cameras (mostly Dahua, with one Annke WiFi PTZ that will end up being ran as POE; possibly one more no-name PTZ for the back yard) with no NVR. I’ll be using a powered switch to run them all. I’m thinking I’d like to view the cameras via Blue Iris but I’m open to suggestions. My main dilemma is how to protect/secure the cameras against external threats.

I’ll start with this: I’m pretty technologically literate. I may not know intuitively how to do all kinds of detailed stuff regarding router settings, WLANs, etc., but I can figure out whatever I need to figure out.

My main concern with these cameras is protecting the rest of my network; I don’t want some Chinese hackers being able to access my family’s PCs, phones, etc. and the data coming and going from them. I’m not really concerned about people being able to view the cameras and see what’s on them, as they’re mostly for general security/dog monitoring and all will be outside with nothing sensitive being captured. One will be on my back patio so I’d enjoy not having someone be able to listen to conversations had back there, but again, it’s not a big deal.

With all that being said, what’s the easiest and most practical way to secure these cameras? From reading up online, I feel like a lot of the people who take drastic steps to set up all these measures to protect their cameras do so because they are hobbyists and not necessarily because they need that much protection. I’m just looking basic protection to stop the bulk of random would-be attackers from gaining access to my main network; I’m not looking to have FBI-level encryption to stop targeted attacks. Additionally, I’d like to take whatever basic steps necessary to keep people from obtaining access to the feeds themselves but I don’t want to spend a ton of time doing it.

Oh, and I should mention, I’d like to still be able to access the cameras remotely (while I’m at work from my phone) and would still like to retain push notifications. So I know I’ll need to have some level of internet access granted to the cameras, not just walling them all off to local recording only.

Thanks in advance!