https://www.wsj.com/articles/surveillance-cameras-made-by-china-are-hanging-all-over-the-u-s-1510513949


sorry. The link sucks-need to subscribe.  I read full article on Drudge.

So.... you dropped a link with an unreadable article and you’re not even going to give a synopsis?

Let me guess. Foreign made cameras have vulnerabilities/backdoors that could be exploited? I’m shocked I tell you.

You can read it on Drudge now but that is a fair summary.  Some other interesting stats.

Global sales of surveillance equipment has increased 55% in the five years through 2016, according to consulting firm IHS-Markit. By pricing cameras below those made by Western competitors, Hikvision has become the top seller of surveillance equipment in Europe and No. 2 in the U.S., according to IHS-Markit and other industry analysts. Its cameras frequently are sold without the Hikvision name and are rebranded by U.S. distributors—a frequent practice in the industry.

This year, Hikvision opened research-and-development offices in Silicon Valley and Montreal. It plans to employ 350 people in North America by year’s end and 800 by 2022, the company says.

Its shares have risen sharply since its initial public offering on Shenzhen’s stock exchange in 2010, and they have more than doubled this year, giving the company a valuation of $56 billion, close to that of Sony Corp.

At my range we got some hikvision  cameras, seem like reasonable cost and very nice picture

I use HIKvision.  Maybe knock offs?  don't know but they were CHEAP ($50-$60 each).  Have 4 around the outside of home.  Just don't upgrade the firmware as it may brick it (probably due to being knock off).  But they have been running so far 24/7  for 2 years now no issues.

I made it point to not allow each camera to access anything outside of my local network.  So i cannot access the internet and is behind firewall.  That being said, The cams sometimes start trying to dial home a few times each day.  Never trust china.  But in my case, i can contain any shenanigans and utilise a good product.

LINK for a cam if your interested

Archived version of the article here:

https://archive.fo/lQ7Fh

Thanks

I don't yet have a security camera system, but have been looking into installing one, and Hikvision is high on my list.

While I would not want some hacker to see what's going on in my driveway and at my front door, I am not especially worried about some Chinese Communist in Beijing monitoring my driveway and front door.

The NSA and FBI . . . now that's a little different.  

Neat article. I own two of their cameras and they are very good. I would buy axis if they were not so insanely expensive.

Hik have a major security issue, FYI.

2 of the distributors who sold them, dumped them last year.

Link below from a report done  by the DHS

https://ipvm.com/reports/hik-backdoor

Did you miss this part of the article?

..."On March 12, Hikvision sent a notice of a 'privilege escalating vulnerability' and issued firmware upgrades for 200+ Hikvision IP cameras addressing the vulnerabilities. IPVM estimates easily millions of cameras have these vulnerabilities given Hikvision's own regular declarations of shipping tens of millions of cameras."

How many people have actually taken the time and effort to upgrade their firmware?

My guess would be well under 10%

I try to do it once or twice yearly.

I just installed 6 of the 4MP mini domes.  Three had the 5.4 firmware, the others were already at the most current 5.5.
Simple matter to upgrade the firmware as part of the setup process when setting the static IP, adding e-mail account info, formatting the SD card, and setting everything else up.
The firmware update is really quick, a lot faster than on my older Vivotek cameras.

Great cameras.