How do you make online cameras secure??

Hi, all. I installed a security camera system in my house approximately 5 years ago--It works like a charm and has been a terrific investment. I took the time to set up port forwarding so that I could view our cameras while we are away from home, but I've always been skeptical of the privacy this provides my family. I honestly don't know how difficult it is to determine my IP address, but if someone has it they only need to enter it along with the port number to access the camera system. My system does have password protection, but it's not very robust. Even if it was, how secure is the firmware on these systems? Could it be hacked and simply bypass the password protection? Is there perhaps a way to limit access to that port to only one or two MAC addresses? Etc., etc.

I am fairly fluent with computers, networking and so-on, but am by no means an advanced or expert user. As far as security systems go, my knowledge extends only as far as the time and experience I've put in tinkering with my system. What I would really like to know is how to properly secure my system while still making my video available to me while I'm away. Right now I just keep port forwarding off until I go somewhere and then turn it on. And many times I forget to do that. And when I do, am I making my entire network vulnerable as discussed in one of the "stickeyed" posts in this forum?

I would really appreciate any input and/or advice anyone can give me. Thanks!

Hmmm... if no one has any ideas, would you have any suggestions and/or recommendations on where to look or whom I could ask to find out? Thanks!

If you really bother that someone might look at your camera system I will recommend switch off port forwarding and use vpn connection. In these times even smartphones support vpn so it shouldn't be a problem. That will be always more secure that port forwarding but you need to check if your router support vpn as well.

The basics:

- Change all default passwords, and do not use easy passwords. You might even want to change user names.

- Use non default ports.

- Open to the world only the needed ports (do not use DMZ).

- Configure your systems to email you if there is any failed login attempt.

If paranoid:

- Lock admin account to a given IP, MAC address, etc.

- Only login remotely with limited rights accounts (if you only want to do live view from remote, create an account that only has access to live view).

- Check logs once in a while to see what connections there have been.

etc.

Thanks!!! I had never thought about using the VPN... I'll have to look and see if I can figure out how to make it work with my cameras. Let me do a little tinkering...