Constant Attempt to Connect to Dan Burkett

[gtmiller7]

Ever since connecting my Amcrest cameras to our network, our firewall has been blocking thousands of requests per day from every camera to an external URL called "Dan Burkett." I have linked that name to CamCloud, so I'm assuming this is related to the cloud storage option for these cameras. We are set up to record to a local NAS device, and are not wanting any other cloud storage. Is there a way to disable this function of the camera? I'd rather not whitelist the URL, as then the cameras would be communicating with an external device, which we don't want. But it's also annoying to have our log filled up with 10s of thousands of blocked URLs every day as a result of these cameras. Any solutions?

[gtmiller7]

We are currently using the ip2m-844ew and ip4m-1025ew cameras.

[Melvin]

Hello gtmiller7,

There is no option to turn off the camera trying to connect to the cloud server for firmware upgrade. You can disable the P2P option under setup > Network> TCP IP and this will eliminate most of the outbound connections. Please note that with P2P disabled, camera cannot be accessed remotely with its serial number.

[gtmiller7]

So the primary function of that connection attempt is to look for a firmware upgrade? That I feel a little better about allowing. I'm hoping that the connection attempt every seven seconds or so will cease if it is whitelisted and allowed through.

[bucktownbell]

If the camera doesn't know the gateway address it won't hit your firewall. You could put a bogus subnet address in the gateway but it will ARP a lot. The gateway and dns fields on my cameras won't let you put 127.0.0.1 so I just entered the static IP of the camera for both dns and gateway and that shuts them up for good.

[Catcam]

So the primary function of that connection attempt is to look for a firmware upgrade? That I feel a little better about allowing. I'm hoping that the connection attempt every seven seconds or so will cease if it is whitelisted and allowed through.

No security/safety product should automatically update itself unless the user explicitly enables that feature. Just take a look through previous posts and you'll see numerous instances of updates breaking some feature or rendering the device inoperable. The last thing you need is part of your security system going offline just as you leave on that cruise. At a minimum, the options should be:

1. Check for updates and automatically apply
2. Check for updates and ask before applying
3. Do not check for updates

[jjreynolds]

My IP2M841B did not update automatically with the latest firmware. When I accessed it on my PC , the Web View plugin notified me that I needed an update , I then tried updating it automaticaly in the dialog, but it didn't work and I had to manually download it from Amcrest and load it into the camera.

BTW I don't believe all that network traffic generated by the camera is to check for firmware updates, instead they are 'keep alive' posts to let the Amcrest Cloud know it is online and if the cloud requires live streaming or config changes etc, it can respond back to the camera and keep the communication going.

[gtmiller7]

If the camera doesn't know the gateway address it won't hit your firewall. You could put a bogus subnet address in the gateway but it will ARP a lot. The gateway and dns fields on my cameras won't let you put 127.0.0.1 so I just entered the static IP of the camera for both dns and gateway and that shuts them up for good.

Thanks for the idea and the other thoughts, everyone. I did assume these things were trying to connect to the cloud and it was annoying me. I'll try this out and see if it resolves those issues.

[gtmiller7]

My IP2M841B did not update automatically with the latest firmware. When I accessed it on my PC , the Web View plugin notified me that I needed an update , I then tried updating it automaticaly in the dialog, but it didn't work and I had to manually download it from Amcrest and load it into the camera.

BTW I don't believe all that network traffic generated by the camera is to check for firmware updates, instead they are 'keep alive' posts to let the Amcrest Cloud know it is online and if the cloud requires live streaming or config changes etc, it can respond back to the camera and keep the communication going.

Right! Every seven seconds seems a little excessive to look for firmware updates!

[bguzik]

This is actually kind of funny.

Basically between Amcrest and previous "issues" with Foscam, the only logical conclusion is that both organizations are spying. Their responses (or lack thereof) are a clear indication that they have included suspect networking code in their cameras, and then hoped (or erroneously believed) nobody would notice. And that is probably true for the average North American consumer.

I'll be surprised if we don't see a "security" brief sometime soon from one of the gurus out there. The fact is this is sleazy, and somebody needs to call them on their bullshit. If it is NOT sleazy and is unintended, then somebody needs to call them on their incompetence. Or maybe it is just "all in the plan" from the NSA.

Anyway, In the meantime, buyer beware, and lock down your ports. caveat emptor... Tell your friends and neighbors. We should not have to put up with this crap. It should NOT have to be this difficult. If you tell the device NOT to communicate out to the internet, it SHOULD NOT communicate out to the internet. Pretty simple. Anything otherwise is either incompetence or intended obfuscation of spying.