Blocking IMOU (dahua) cameras from accessing internet and calling home.

[dbrannon79]

You should be able to get the streams via RSTP without internet. there are some threads here on various models. there is also some info that can be had from ispyconnect software and their site. iirc their site has a section where you can select the camera model or one similar and it will output the RSTP address that might work. most all of the IMOU cameras are based on the Dahau cameras, the Dahau tools software should be able to find them on your lan and might help you.

Thank you for the list, just looking at some, I recall seeing some of these shown when I look at the logs in adguard home I have running as a DNS server. the adguard home docker application is neat, once setup you can use it to block a lot of things like this on your entire network plus block tracking and telemetry from PC's and IoT devices too!

Here are a couple of links that might help find the streams and allow you to not use them over the internet.

Dahua IMOU camera owners, please share your information here! Thank you.

Hi, This post was created for all BI users to share information about their success story about connecting Dahua IMOU brand cameras. If you own one, please state the model number, and also state what function is not working with BI. Is there any workaround to your problem? Thank you. :)...

ipcamtalk.com

Connect to Imou IP Cameras

Use our free software to connect Imou IP CCTV camera URL for RTSP streaming video. Login to Imou camera.

www.ispyconnect.com

if I googled your model correctly I believe your camera is called the IMOU Cue2, try the settings for the Cue2 listed and others. one thing to note, depending on if your plan is to use Blue Iris or some other software like Ispy, the user name and password might need to be in the stream address in the settings of the software.

 

[borderless.jack]

I have the Imou Cue 2-D model.
I used the ImouLife app to configure the camera. The camera is on separate VLAN.
I could access the camera using the RTSP and ONVIF url.

After setting up, I blocked the camera's internet using my router (pfsense).
Now, the camera will restart every five minutes.
If I unblock the camera ip in pfsense, it stops restarting.
Looks like it's programmed to restart if there is no internet.

 

[cctv-dave]

Given the intended customer is unlikely to be blocking it from accessing the internet and yet will want to use it over the internet, that would seem reasonable behaviour.
If you're using pfsense, maybe you could try monitoring it's traffic and redirecting the server's it's trying to connect to toward internal IP's.

 

[blacklizard]

I have the Imou Cue 2-D model.
I used the ImouLife app to configure the camera. The camera is on separate VLAN.
I could access the camera using the RTSP and ONVIF url.

After setting up, I blocked the camera's internet using my router (pfsense).
Now, the camera will restart every five minutes.
If I unblock the camera ip in pfsense, it stops restarting.
Looks like it's programmed to restart if there is no internet.

I am experiencing the same with Imou Dahua Bullet 2C 4MP. If i block the IP of the camera in the firewall, it will reboot every minute.

 

[dbrannon79]

I was able to set them up on a separate network from a POE switch off the BI machine not attached to the internet. what I did was use Dahau config tool to initialize the camera and manually set the IP address. so far none of the cameras have attempted to reboot. my only issue was with a turret camera that was WiFi only. I ended up allowing internet access through the POE switch then use the IMOU app to set it up. I used an old WiFi router connected to the POE switch for it to connect. once it was setup on WiFi, I went into Dahau config tool and reset the config setting up static IP and all. then it wouldn't reboot.

since all this has gone on, I have since found a better camera off amazon for slightly less cost. the Ampviz cameras seem much better in quality plus they are true POE and have their own service you can log into via it's IP address with more options. even though the camera is a 4mp camera like the IMOU, the picture and video quality is much better. I can also remove the branding watermark from the view too.

 

[lh4ur3nz]

I am experiencing the same with Imou Dahua Bullet 2C 4MP. If i block the IP of the camera in the firewall, it will reboot every minute.

I emailed service.global@imoulife.com for the same issue, I was advised by their technical support via chat to disable the play on cellular feature using the imou app on my android and ipad tablet but still the camera still streaming using my ipad tablet connected wirelessly to my phone cellular data. Then, advised again if there's a notification I just need to not to allow it for me to disable the play on cellular feature. Then to check if it works I check it on my ipad tablet that was wirelessly connected phone with cellular data and an imou app but still the issue was not resolve.

As alternative, same from previous post here, I blocked the mac address on my Sophos Firewall by creating a rule dropping any outgoing connections from the imou 2c cue camera. Temporarily this resolved my issue with this camera, to block the active bi-directional connection from the cctv camera going to the chinese company server. I can use the camera without concerns of being monitored.