Hacking is becoming a topic which worries a lot of people, most hackers target smartphones and computers, but every day we see more and more devices connected to the internet. From a smart car to an Apple Watch that can be easily unlinked from an iPhone. Everything is vulnerable to cybercriminals.

And action cameras today are able to connect through WiFi and phone apps, either to record or to view stored content. So it is possible for someone to hack and connect to your GoPro, just as it is possible to hack your computer’s ‘webcam’.

The security specialists demonstrated how the image and audio could be recorded secretly from the GoPro, in addition to managing its stored content. Why? Well, again weak and insecure passwords become one of the big reasons.

Check out our other blogs about action cameras and GoPro alternatives

If you are already fearing that someone can spy on you in your own home there is still more you should know about. It is also possible to steal your videos from the SD card once it has crossed the security wall or connected to the WiFi.

Is there any solution?

How can you protect your action cam better? Stronger passwords are always very helpful when connecting to the Wi-Fi network, between 8 and 16 characters (uppercase, numbers, and symbols included), or change the name and password of the camera’s network. Another important tip is to disconnect the device’s Wi-Fi connection and then turn it off plus it will also save you battery. You lose a little in usability, but you gain peace of mind.

A security expert like Bruce Schneider recommended a way to get a strong password from a sentence. This method consists of rescuing something that we remember about ourselves and that we know by heart.

For example, for football lovers, a good phrase could be “Team1 won the Champions League in 1998”. If we transform this into a password, it would be: “¡Eam1hampLeague1998!” Exclamation marks are added at the beginning and end and the first two letters of each word are taken, respecting upper and lower case letters, using numbers for the date.

You could also use an online generator, for example, https://passwordsgenerator.net/ but make sure you remember it afterward.

We hope this blog post about your GoPro getting hacked was helpful to you and that you have a safe time with it and record great footage! Check out the other sections of my blog for more reviews about action cameras or other drones you might want.