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I have high-end security camera's all over the exterior of my house. They all run a Linux 2.6 Kernel that is froom 2011. There are no firmware updates available

I have high-end security camera's all over the exterior of my house. They all run a Linux 2.6 Kernel that is froom 2011. There are no firmware updates available from the manufacture, and even their new camera's run this kernel. If I could find a brand that actually did regular maintenance and wasn't a walled garden (such as Ubiquity), I would replace all of my camera's. Security comes from networking tricks (VLAN's, etc), which is far from ideal.

willis936 4y ago
Well, raspberry pis have a CSI port and is based off a recent debian release. If you want something newer than raspberry pi os then you can run debian or arch with a cron job to update and reboot. Not pretty, not reliable, but surely more secure. Though the best thing is to air-gap or at the least firewall.
DrPhish 4y ago
Bosch are the only ones I’ve found that have full chain of custody on all parts of the camera I wouldn’t discount network tricks, tho. A non-routed vlan for cameras to talk to the nvr and all video access through the nvr only keeps cameras pretty safe. Much easier to secure one nvr than 100 cameras
rektide 4y ago
Hard days that those interested in trying to DIY with an RPi or RPi0 just can't, that there's no parts available. There's some various other boards we could possibly use. Few are small. Many lack CSI interfaces for attaching cameras. And then, for your outdoor use, ruggedizing is another huge leap.
- maven29 4y ago
  Surely you could get android phones and a type-c PoE adapter for cheaper?
  - rektide 4y ago
    I like the idea! There's some IP webcam apps. For some simpler needs, there's the Guardian Project's Haven[1]. Alas though, you'll still be stuck with a device that only lasts 3 years before it's insecure. I'm in the minority, but personally I'd rather a more open ended & flexible system like Linux, with more small-pieces-loosely-coupled possibilities in front of me, where-as with Android I'm going to have 2 or 3 different apps with pretty fixed/limited capabilities that I'll never be able to improve or adjust. In some ways, the web is kind of the possible remedy here. If the phone runs a webpage that accesses the camera & webrtc & does the things, that'd kind of be ideal, because it's insta-deployable to any vaguely general-purpose hardware. Developing the webrtc chops though to be able to make use of this well though, that's a totally separate conversation. [1] https://guardianproject.info/apps/org.havenapp.main/ https://guardianproject.info/apps/org.havenapp.main/
    - maven29 4y ago
      There are phones that do run things like postmarketOS which aims to maximize as much mainline linux as possible. Some well-supported devices are pretty cheap on the secondary market, and for this use-case, things like broken screen etc do not matter in the least. You'd still have binary blobs of HAL for some peripherals but that's not different from raspberry pi.
  - franga2000 4y ago
    Be careful with using (especially cheap) Android phones for 24/7 use-cases. The vast majority of them don't have power passthrough, meaning they will absolutely wreck the battery if left on a charger. I've had multiple swell up to the point of cracking the screen when I was using them for various IoT things (smart controllers, displays, cameras, trackers...).

willis936 4y ago

Well, raspberry pis have a CSI port and is based off a recent debian release. If you want something newer than raspberry pi os then you can run debian or arch with a cron job to update and reboot. Not pretty, not reliable, but surely more secure. Though the best thing is to air-gap or at the least firewall.

DrPhish 4y ago

Bosch are the only ones I’ve found that have full chain of custody on all parts of the camera I wouldn’t discount network tricks, tho. A non-routed vlan for cameras to talk to the nvr and all video access through the nvr only keeps cameras pretty safe. Much easier to secure one nvr than 100 cameras

rektide 4y ago

Hard days that those interested in trying to DIY with an RPi or RPi0 just can't, that there's no parts available. There's some various other boards we could possibly use. Few are small. Many lack CSI interfaces for attaching cameras. And then, for your outdoor use, ruggedizing is another huge leap.

maven29 4y ago
Surely you could get android phones and a type-c PoE adapter for cheaper?
- rektide 4y ago
  I like the idea! There's some IP webcam apps. For some simpler needs, there's the Guardian Project's Haven[1]. Alas though, you'll still be stuck with a device that only lasts 3 years before it's insecure. I'm in the minority, but personally I'd rather a more open ended & flexible system like Linux, with more small-pieces-loosely-coupled possibilities in front of me, where-as with Android I'm going to have 2 or 3 different apps with pretty fixed/limited capabilities that I'll never be able to improve or adjust. In some ways, the web is kind of the possible remedy here. If the phone runs a webpage that accesses the camera & webrtc & does the things, that'd kind of be ideal, because it's insta-deployable to any vaguely general-purpose hardware. Developing the webrtc chops though to be able to make use of this well though, that's a totally separate conversation. [1] https://guardianproject.info/apps/org.havenapp.main/ https://guardianproject.info/apps/org.havenapp.main/
  - maven29 4y ago
    There are phones that do run things like postmarketOS which aims to maximize as much mainline linux as possible. Some well-supported devices are pretty cheap on the secondary market, and for this use-case, things like broken screen etc do not matter in the least. You'd still have binary blobs of HAL for some peripherals but that's not different from raspberry pi.
- franga2000 4y ago
  Be careful with using (especially cheap) Android phones for 24/7 use-cases. The vast majority of them don't have power passthrough, meaning they will absolutely wreck the battery if left on a charger. I've had multiple swell up to the point of cracking the screen when I was using them for various IoT things (smart controllers, displays, cameras, trackers...).