A CCTV breach has sparked security concerns after a woman received images from inside another family’s home – just a month after a user was mistakenly sent someone else’s video footage.
When Louisa Lewis received a notification on her security camera app she was left shocked to discover that instead of showing the interior of her home she found herself looking at a kitchen she didn’t recognise – with people she did not know wandering around in it.
The Swann Security camera, which has models starting at £74.99, is meant to send video clips live to the user’s mobile phone when any sort of motion is detected in their home.
Louisa Lewis (pictured) received a notification on her security camera app, but when she checked instead of showing the interior of her home she found herself looking at a kitchen she didn’t recognise – with people she did not know wandering around in it
The leading security camera-maker, which is based in the US, initially blamed a factory error for the data breach and said it was a ‘one-off’ incident.
But the BBC reports that only last month another customer reported a similar problem when his app received footage from a nearby pub’s CCTV system.
Ms Lewis first began receiving motion-triggered video clips from the unknown family’s kitchen on Saturday.
She said: ‘I was out and I had a couple of alerts. Naturally, I looked at my phone only to see the video was not of my home.
The leading security camera-maker, which is based in the US, initially blamed a factory error for the data breach and said it was a ‘one-off’ incident (Pictured: A Swann security camera)
The BBC employee was shocked to receive images from inside another family’s home after a ‘factory error’ in a security camera sent the information to her phone
‘At first I ignored it – I thought it must be an error – then I had several other alerts, at which point I thought I had better get in touch with Swann.’
She added that the images showed a man and a woman in their kitchen. At one point a child’s voice could be heard.
After the BBC raised the incident with their press office, a Swann spokesman said that ‘human error’ had caused two cameras to be manufactured that shared the same ‘bank-grade security key – which secures all communications with its owner’.
She added that Swann had not managed to identify the family involved.
The Swann Security camera, which has models starting at £74.99, is meant to send video clips live to the user’s mobile phone when any sort of motion is detected in their home – but on this occasion it sent images from a different home
Tim Lane, from Leicestershire, began a Twitter hunt last month to identify a pub after he and his wife began receiving images from its CCTV system.
Mr Lane said: ‘One day we were watching our own cameras, the next – when we opened the app up – it was someone else’s.’
He wrote on Twitter: ‘Can @swannsecurity please tell me why both our smart devices can reliably access the CCTV cameras from a pub. Moreover, who’s viewing our cameras? Anyone recognise the pub?’
Tim Lane, from Leicestershire, began a Twitter hunt last month to identify a pub after he and his wife began receiving images from its CCTV system on their Swann app. He later found and visited the pub and even took this selfie (right)
Mr Lane was surprised to discover it was only a few miles away and he later visited the pub, The Bradgate, to warn its staff.
He again took to Twitter after the meeting and said: ‘Great to meet the manager @newtownlinford and share our concerns that @swannsecurity remote access CCTV system is giving us images from his cameras in place of our own. Bizarre to be able to take a selfie using someone else’s CCTV camera.’
The Information Commissioner’s Office confirmed that the company referred Ms Lewis’ incident on to them. A spokesman said: ‘Swann Communications (Europe) have made us aware of this incident and we will be making inquiries.
‘If anyone has concerns about how their data has been handled, they can report these concerns to us.’