Camera is missing video, potentially hacked?

[dill_pickles]

I realize I am not the first to suspect a hacking,  and have read as many posts as I can on the subject, however I am experiencing issues with missed videos, missed notifications, strange motion trips (where there is no activity), and seemingly random on-and offs, as well as a odd "my_channel" option on the notification settings. See image.

The "my_channel" option is perplexing. I have searched for this in the message boards but have not seen any occurrence of this. Could this be a hacked modification?

Verified activities are not appearing/getting captured by the motion detector at a disturbing rate, some reaosn to believe an outside source is accessing or viewing videos. Is this possible without password and id access?

[StephenB]

What cameras and base station do you have?

What version of the app?  Also, are you running iOS or Android?

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@dill_pickles wrote:

Verified activities are not appearing/getting captured by the motion detector at a disturbing rate, some reaosn to believe an outside source is accessing or viewing videos. Is this possible without password and id access?

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Not sure what you mean by "verified activities".

If your base supports USB or MicroSD storage, then add some storage.  You can then see if recordings are being saved locally but not making it to the cloud.  (btw, not getting to the cloud doesn't necessarily mean the videos were deleted by someone else).

Of course access to the videos is supposed to require a password, and I haven't seen any indication from Arlo of any security breaches that would allow that to be bypassed.  If you suspect hacking , then start by changing the password.  Consider enabling two-factor authentication.

Of course if a PC or phone has been hacked, then the hacker would quickly get your new password (for instance they might have a keylogger installed).   Are there any signs that your PC or phone/tablets has been compromised (apart from your worries about Arlo)?

[dill_pickles]

Hi Stephen--thanks for your reply,

It's the standard "Arlo" model

Running Android

App version 2.12.1+27005

Base station: HW VMB3500r4, 1.12.2.5_2_406d8b3

Camera: H7, 1.3.319

What I mean by verified events, is that myself or others pass thru the camera and it either "misses" them, or the red motion-detection-light goes on but there is no notification sent to my phone.

The camera also seems to mysteriously "go offline".

As I write this reply, I just tripped the motion detector (saw the light) and got a notification sent to my phone, I went to the app and it said 'camera is offline", and there is no video in the library.

I do not have reason to believe my devices have been compromised..although I guess that is a possibility.

I recently did some network activity scans on the wifi, and found that the Arlo doesn't show up. Is it possible for someone to be discreetly monitoring or manipulating the camera because its on an open network (I don't know how this stuff works at all)?

[StephenB]

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@dill_pickles wrote:

I recently did some network activity scans on the wifi, and found that the Arlo doesn't show up. Is it possible for someone to be discreetly monitoring or manipulating the camera because its on an open network (I don't know how this stuff works at all)?

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The base station creates a closed wifi network, and the cameras connect to the base station using that network.  Other devices can't connect to that network.  And there is no way to log into the base station directly to control/manipulate either the base or the cameras.

Manipulating the cameras or the cloud video library can only be done through your Arlo account, which is password protected (and optionally uses two-factor authentication).

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@dill_pickles wrote:

As I write this reply, I just tripped the motion detector (saw the light) and got a notification sent to my phone, I went to the app and it said 'camera is offline", and there is no video in the library.

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Which says that the problems are either because the camera can't reach the base station reliably, or that the base station can't reach the cloud reliably.  Perhaps start by looking at the LEDs on the base the next time you see an off-line status, and see if that gives you more information on which of those two things is happening.  https://kb.arlo.com/000039100/What-do-the-LEDs-on-my-Arlo-SmartHub-or-base-station-mean

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@dill_pickles wrote:

It's the standard "Arlo" model

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This is the original HD WireFree camera (which uses four CR123 lithium  batteries)?

FWIW. it would be very helpful if there were a kb article that helped folks identify their camera model.  The H model info isn't very helpful, since there is no "decoder ring" to tie that the WireFree, Pro, Pro-2, Pro-3, Ultra, etc.

[llcoolj]

Same here. I have had my cameras unhooked ever since I saw it and customer support had totally mistaken my problem for a geofencing issue. I dont think we're the only ones who see this. And hopefully Arlo is able to explain it.