Please Help Somebody!!! Lasers disruppting my Cameras

[Loria 0]

On the 26th of November, we had 4 swann Cameras installed in our home for security, and to obtain evidence following constant neighbor harassment and vandalism to our property. Few days after the Cameras were installed, we noticed that files were being deleted from the DVR recording; even when we have witnessed the activities live, when we go to view it on the recorder, the DVR message would state "file not available, OK" the event recorded would be completely deleted. We have noticed that the DVR did not stop recording, because the recorded files prior and post the time of the incidents would remain untouched, but the incident would be deleted somehow.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Guest

[Don Stephens 0]

You're jumping to conclusions a little fast.

 

You said that you'd witness events live and then try to play them back only to find out that there's nothing there. Can you actually verify that your cameras were set to record at those times? You may have set up your scheduling correctly, but have you also made sure that your time stamp is correct in addition to that? For some reason, everyone always forgets that until the first time they use the playback feature.

 

For someone to log in to your system and delete specific segments of video isn't even possible as far as I know with a system like yours. If you want to remove recorded video, it's either all or nothing. This is only done by formatting the hard drive which, in some cases, also can't be done remotely like you're describing. If you completely throw those things aside, there's still more. Someone would have to know your network IP address first, which they can't get unless you told them, or they were able to log in to your network which means they would have to have been provided with your Wifi credentials unless you don't password protect your network. After that, they need to know the IP address of your DVR. They'd also need your log in credentials for your DVR (username & password). Unless you're using the default username and password for your DVR and your network devices, it's very unlikely that they'd be able to get any of this information on their own.

 

Now, if you've disconnected your DVR from your network altogether, then the only way to access any of it is if you're standing right there in front of it. No one can possibly log in to your DVR through another device that it has absolutely zero connection with.

 

It's infinitely more possible that the installation was botched and you're not recording the way you think you are.

 

Your second problem is probably going to require you to post an image that we can look at to be certain. To make a guess at this time, I'd say that it's very likely that cameras Infrared (IR) board isn't turning off during daylight hours like it's supposed to. That would produce what might appear as a "blank" image during those times. Depending on the angle of the camera and also what it's directed at, you can also be getting glare from the sun itself right into the lens; similar effect but usually not as drastic as what you're describing. Your theory of a laser means that someone has programmed a laser to turn on and off at those exact times. That also means that you have someone who only feels like maliciously messing with you during 0745 and 1600...which seems unlikely.

 

If it is a problem with the IR board not turning off during the day, you can easily confirm that by walking out and looking at the camera. If your LEDs are on instead of off, you've solved the case.

[Loria 0]

Hi, Don Stevens! Thank you so much for your response. Regarding video recording: It was set to continuous recording. It was initially set to record at motion, but when we started encountering these problems of deleting files, we set it to continuous recording. Yes, we initially suspected that our computer was hacked and our password intercepted somehow by this individual and this was how they were able to obtain our password and make the deletions when we had the wireless access to view the cameras on our cell and pc. But they have continued to delete data even with it no longer connected on the internet and even with having changed our router ID and password. In fact, an incident happened on 1/12/2015, when the couple (neighbor) stopped in front of my home and were pointing at the cameras. At first I wasn't sure whose car it was, so I opened my front door to get a better view. The occupant of the vehicle rolled down the window, and it was the neighbor and his wife who has been harassing us ever since we moved here. She stuck up her middle finger and rained series of profanities at me. This neighbor and his family have continued to harass and antagonize me and my family for several years now, and because of their constant harassment and hostility, we had installed the cameras; for safety, and to help us gather evidence of their actions towards us. I immediately went to view the incident on the camera recordings; Camera 2 had a partial view of the area of the incident, and it was captured. I noticed that within less than 15 minutes of this incident, it was already being deleted. I immediately backed it up on a flash drive, which I now have. But about half hour later, the incident was completely deleted. This incident happened about 11:35(of the hour), but every other recording prior to 11:35 and after the incident(which lasted less than 5 minutes), still exist, but the incident was deleted from the DVR.

 

Regarding our suspicion about camera I being interrupted with high powered laser directed at its lens; for the past 3 weeks that this has continued to happen, on 1/10/2015, my husband and I went outside with a ladder to trouble shoot the camera. Series of things occurred at that point: The a fore mentioned neighbors son-in-law, immediately rushed out of their resident and quickly drove off with his truck which he habitually parked in front of our home. We were perplexed at this bizarre behavior and suspecting that his driving off in such a rush may have something to do with the camera, I went in to view the camera on the screen, at that point, and noticed that the images were regained, without us even having to trouble shoot the camera as we initially went out to do.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Guest

[goodolick 0]

In regards to the "hack" I still do not see where you have really isolated the incident. I do not know much about Swan DVRs, but I do work as an ethical hacker for a major financial institution. If you have disconnected the DVR from your router via the physical cable or by telling it not to use wifi, there is no way that someone could compromise the device via the internet. If somehow you have disconnected the device from it's internet connection, but still have it connected to a network that has access to another internal network (odds are you dont, most people do no have a need for multiple network segments at home), there is a VERY small chance that it could still be compromised. Either you neighbor has intimate knowledge of your network, or something else is wrong. If you are truly concerned about about having a network invasion, change your wifi password. Make sure you use the WPA2 encryption for your wifi. Change all of your passwords on your local network. If you are using WEP, it can easily be compromised. Furhtermore, if you have any exterior CAT5/6 runs, check the wires to make sure they have not been compromised. Odds are, if the neighbor is out to get you, he would not just be messing with your security, if someone is going to take a hack to that level, they are going to steal. I digress in the network part though. It is more likely that there is something wrong with the DVR or hard drive. If the device is still under waranty, return it for a new one. There is also one other small possibility, if the DVR is with in line of sight of a window, there is a SMALL possiblity that the evil neighbor has picked up a universal remote. Keep in mind the evil neighbor would have to have line of sight and be able to see the TV or Monitor your DVR is plugged into. Another possiblity to consider is if the hard drive is set to overwrite when it gets full.

 

In regards to the laser, I tend to agree with Don on that one. Odds are nobody is using a laser to compromise your cameras during specific hours. You did make an interesting point about the evil neighbor taking off in his pickup. I will get a good amount of sun bleed when the sun hits my truck windows at certain hours of the day. This is important because you said the neighbor took off in his truck and the problem stopped. If you still think the neighbor is beaming you with a laser, get a piece of cardboard and place it over the lens of the camera. Check to see if you see a laser on the cardboard, if you dont, you can eliminate the laser theory.

 

Lastly, if you are really out to catch your neighbor disrupting your cameras, maybe build in some redundancy.. Get a second DVR and NEVER connect it to the internet. Add additional cameras and change up which DVR you have them plugged into.

[tng5737 0]

Another thing to do is to enable logging both in your router and cameras and dvr and then check them often. Even IF they manage to clear the logs they will still tell you that they were cleared and provide a timestamp. Turn off any GUEST networks in your router and change all passwords to secure passwords.

[need2shave 0]

It sounds to me that the most likely issue is an incorrect setup or a malfunctioning unit...likely no neighbor involvement whatsoever.

[ak357 0]

It sounds to me that the most likely issue is an incorrect setup or a malfunctioning unit...likely no neighbor involvement whatsoever.

If neighbor can do that

I want his ph number

[unix1992 0]

I think the topic starter is either a troll or someone who has a lot of fantasy....

 

I cannot imagine that the settings are overruled when there is no physical or wireless access to the dvr. Furthermore, call the police when there are serious problems and ask an other neighbour to testify against your 'horrible' neighbours.

[goodolick 0]

I wish there was a "like" button for some posts!

[Loria 0]

Thank you everyone for your responses. Someone mentioned that I may be a Troll? No, I'm not, nor am I someone fantasizing. I'm just a regular person who is experiencing a lot of problems from my neighbors, and hoping that I can gather some information to help my family with the problems we are having, and this is my reason for joining this forum. It cost us over $2000 to install these cameras at our home for reason of safety and to obtain evidence on the harassment we have been experiencing from our neighbor. Unfortunately, the cameras have become the subjects of attack.

 

Following these various incidents, we contacted our router company to completely reconfigure our user name and password with hope that this would terminate any unauthorized remote login, when this didn't solve the problem, we disconnected the DVR from wireless internet access. The deleting of DVR recordings did stop for a few days, and then, another incident happened, where one of that neighbor's son-in-law was witnessed with a smurk on his face, blowing leaves from their property into ours and when we went to review the incident on the camera, the incident was deleted. The DVR works fine, until there is an incident, only the incidents are deleted.

 

We have several times witnessed on the TV screen at night various lasers pointed at the cameras and seen how distorting the images become. In fact, about 1 week ago, under low light before sunrise about 07:00 we saw a laser light emanating from the neighbors truck that was packed in front of my home. It was pointing directly at one of the cameras. I used my I pad to record the activity, since I feared that it would be deleted from the cameras and I was right, it was, but I was able to record the incident using my I Pad.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Guest

[Joeinamillion 0]

I have not used Swann DVRs, however, I suspect they may be much like Q-See DVRs, of which I've used a few for some time.

 

Here are some things I've found with three different models of Q-See DVR I've tried since 2008:

 

- setting recording to anything other than all the time leads to some cameras not recording even when a redundant camera does.

 

- camera connections, and faulty wires can lead to all kinds of odd 'recordings'

 

- the day/night sensor is not working properly. there might be some thing in the manual on how to correct this. (One camera I have says to cover the camera lens for about 10 seconds, keeping as much light out as possible, then quickly allow normal light again. That should reset the sensor. You might have a similar situation, and solution.)

 

- A faulty Hard Drive, DVR, or power supply, and lead to all kinds of problems. So make sure the correct power adapters are being used.

 

Other things to consider:

 

- If the missing recording seem to only take place when you suspect your neighbor is doing something that the camera would catch, perhaps the DVR can handle the extra movement (bandwidth). [Hopefully some one else can explain this better than I can.]

 

- the hard drive is over writing the files as it gets full. I'm not sure how DVRs work with more than one hard drive, but if the DVR records 20mins to one hard drive, then the next 20mins to the second hard drive, you could lose a segment in the middle of a given time frame. [Again, maybe some one can explain this better.]

 

- sunrise and set can cause glare in the camera. And as the seasons change the sunrise and set angles change too. So a fine angle in November might get glare in January. But the solace took place December 21-22, so if this is the issue it should correct itself soon.

 

The thought of someone going to such trouble to aim a laser at a camera, not knowing if it has any effect, suggests they need a real hobby, and probably counselling. I take it you have 'bullet' style cameras. Dome styles can help hide the direction of the camera, and it's lens. A PTZ camera would really make a laser saboteur useless; if he aims the laser, the PTZ could be moved in seconds, with out him knowing, just enough to keep the laser out and what you want still in the frame.

Redundant cameras, relocating, and 'hidden' cameras all can help foil anyone attempting to elude video capture. Surely if the cameras get relocated the saboteur will being to wonder the he has defeated the ones he desires to.

 

Even just taking one down can cause the person to wonder "Where is THAT one NOW?!?"

I once bought a set of six LED solar mountable (on a wall or fence etc) lights. A neighbor noticed them a thought I had six little cameras pointing every which way within about six feet of each other out the front of my house. He learned they where little garden lights he felt very embarrassed. This could be interesting for a rumor spreading, laser pointing fool.

 

Please keep us posted on any solution you achieve.

[need2shave 0]

Lasers aside, I have never seen a recording unit that allows you to delete certain clips selectively. If the unit is not connected, it is impossible to delete unless someone is doing it from inside the house. You may want to check the paranoia for a moment and come back to reality. Fix or replace the faulty unit...can't be much more clear than that.

[Loria 0]

Through all this, we figure that there must be some simple explanations(other than they are very petty people, and have too much time on their hands to act small and unethical) as to how these people are able to selectively delete these files remotely after their acts. Therefore my registering on this forum to see if anyone has an idea.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Guest

[goodolick 0]

Is the DVR in line of sight of a window that an IR remote control could operate it? Is the display also visible from the window?

[Loria 0]

Is the DVR in line of sight of a window that an IR remote control could operate it? Is the display also visible from the window?

 

 

About 30ft to 100ft away depending on where you're standing.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Guest

[goodolick 0]

I would think about returning that DVR then, it might be faulty.

 

If it is off the network, the only other way the files could be deleted is if they had an IR remote and could easily view the screen.

 

From what you have described, I do not think there is foul play from your neighbor.

 

Can you please post a screen shot of the laser problem? There are enough of us here that would be able to tell if the camera is being blinded by the laser.

[abdelm01 0]

You just say the word, and i can come down there and we can build you a surveillance room with monitors everywhere in the room, with 24/7 Operators and upgrade your whole system to a Casino Like setup. We can also setup Analytics to read and capture Facial Recognitions. Set it up as if you were the whitehouse to were if an ant walks on your property, you will be automatically notified and Spot lights are to come on and light up the whole town lol. Money can get you any setup you need.

[goodolick 0]

You just say the word, and i can come down there and we can build you a surveillance room with monitors everywhere in the room, with 24/7 Operators and upgrade your whole system to a Casino Like setup. We can also setup Analytics to read and capture Facial Recognitions. Set it up as if you were the whitehouse to were if an ant walks on your property, you will be automatically notified and Spot lights are to come on and light up the whole town lol. Money can get you any setup you need.

 

 

LMAO.... I dont think it would do any good, this neighbor is so cunning and savy that even if the poster had landmines and claymores scatter about their property, the neighbor would find a way to detonate them on the poster.

Edited January 22, 2015 by Guest

[Loria 0]

Interesting!

Edited January 24, 2015 by Guest

[Loria 0]

Shall post pic of cameras to site

Edited January 24, 2015 by Guest

[goodolick 0]

you have a couple of options. First, you can click the "Img" button at the top of the posting window. Upload the image to a site like imgur.com and put the link in there.

 

At the bottom of the window, it has a section named "Filename" Click the "Choose File" button next to it, and point to the image you wish to upload.

 

Please give us samples of the camera view with and with out the laser problem.

[Boogieman 1]

Look, there is no way they are deleting clips if the DVR is not connected to the network and they are not coming into the house..NO WAY...end of story..

There are two possibilities...1) the unit is not functioning properly 2) you are smoking some REALLY good weed.

Sorry but that is a fact.

Why doing you point a regular video camera out the window and see what happens..

[need2shave 0]

Agreed Boogieman. This is getting old fast. Loria, you may be educated but you aren't taking a logical process to determine the problem. You post a bunch of issues that you presume are caused by your neighbor. Experts tell you that it is impossible for your neighbor to perform the actions you claim. Rather, a simple and explainable diagnosis is a faulty DVR.

 

Despite this, you still discount the plausible instead choosing an impossible scenario. This in conjunction with your paranoid tone, admissions that the police pay you no attention, that your neighbors all dislike you, leads me to assess that you should seek help with a medical provider and not here.

[Loria 0]

As fantastic as the stories may sound, they are the very facts. Thanks for your response, Boogieman, but I've never smoked even a stick of cigarette in my life, talk less of weed. Sorry!

Edited January 24, 2015 by Guest

[Loria 0]

Camera pics not loading, states "file too large to upload"

Edited January 24, 2015 by Guest