Thieves took my DVR!

[Rebelx]

I got recently broken into while not at home. Power was cut and alarm was bypassed as my alarm backup battery had expired!

They took my NVR so makes the cameras not that useful.

I did not have cloud backup.

Could I trouble the brain trust for a backup solution to the cloud assuming that I have a UPS running long enough to upload to the cloud?

I run a Dahua NVR with 6 cameras.

Many thanks!

 

[looktall]

If your cameras have SD slots, use them as well as the NVR.
At least you stand a chance of capturing something.
They're unlikely to want to take the time to remove the cameras.

Where did you keep your NVR?
It should be somewhere not obvious or easy to get to.

 

[Rebelx]

Where did you keep your NVR?
It should be somewhere not obvious or easy to get to.

This is moot. They looked EVERYWHERE. Even the roof cavity. Even some of the jars in my kitchen were opened. I am convinced that they tried on all my underwear while at it.


Point about SD card taken and will be implemented as soon as possible.

Thanks.

 

[Flintstone61]

if you also record the cams from the nvr feed to a Blue Iris PC, you concievably could have redundancy. As long as the computer doesn't look " special"...Grey duck on a grey day....
If they're dumb enough to only look for NVR's youd be ok.
It almost sounds like somebody had prior knowledge to make an attempt like that.
just thinkin outloud

I have my Daily driver PC recording 24/7 to BI... nobody might guess it was tasked with that if they found the NVR's and ripped them out....I might have some useful footage up to that point.
but cloud is another option...I'm trying to avoid that.
Although a prisoner did escape on a labor crew today to a waiting car.....in the town next door. Meth head.....I don't think we are priority stop....theres nothing here but rice and old people. .....

 

[wittaj]

If they have enough time in a place, they will look everywhere.

That is why a good security system with a backup power supply that works is important so that hopefully they don't have hours in your house.

The SD cards are your only real option at this point as most will not go to the effort to start pulling those off the house too, especially the ones outside.

But in your case, they cut your power, so you need battery backup for those as well.

At the very least, you should be having your system emailing out motion alert images or short video clips to an email.

Cloud based can get tricky. My cameras are nonstop 350Mbps. Most home internet will not have that kinda upload speed. And even if they did with no caps, at that extended amount the ISP probably would implement something. But even then, since they cut your power, it probably would have lost the feed to the cloud before it even got to that part of the video. That is why sending images to email is important.

 

[Sybertiger]

Push notifications to instantly make you aware your cams are triggering. This of course assumes you have your phone near you when this event happens and that the cams trigger before the power is cut.

 

[wittaj]

And set up a ping device that will let you know if your internet is down.

 

[looktall]

This of course assumes you have your phone near you when this event happens and that the cams trigger before the power is cut.

Even a small UPS should be able to maintain an NVR or Poe switch and your modem/router for long enough to send some alerts.

 

[garycrist]

2 NVRs, one out in the open another secreted away. All cams run through POE switches so
only 1 Ethernet cable to the NVRs. Also on the "take-me" NVR, run dummy Ethernet cables
to the wall.

 

[The Automation Guy]

Great information in this thread. While that type of break-in is probably rare in a typical residential setting, it does make you think about how to secure everything. But the thread also brings up good points like needing a backup power supply for everything to keep working. In the end, security is like an onion. There are a lot of layers that can be pealed back depending on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. In the end however, every security measure can be bypassed with enough time and knowledge.

 

[SpacemanSpiff]

Need to start selling fake face plates that make your NVR appear as a VHS player

Sorry to hear of your predicament OP

 

[looney2ns]

Did your alarm system not notify you that the battery needed replaced, before it expired.
A good system would.

 

[Ri22o]

My BI PC is bolted into my network rack, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't also steal my tools to get it out.

I have considered getting SD cards for certain cameras in case something were to happen and the NVR were to disappear. The POE switches and PC are already on a battery back up that would hopefully allow captures if the power were to out or cut.

 

[SpacemanSpiff]

View attachment 155682

HOLY $Heet! You can reset the Internet!?!

 

[Ri22o]

HOLY $Heet! You can reset the Internet!?!

I had to make it easy for my wife since I no longer have Al Gore on speed dial.

 

[Rebelx]

you concievably could have redundancy. As long as the computer doesn't look " special"...Grey duck on a grey day....
If they're dumb enough to only look for NVR's youd be ok.
It almost sounds like somebody had prior knowledge to make an attempt like that.

It is possible that they knew.

They took ALL computers in the house. Even an ancient one. They left all monitors etc behind.

 

[Rebelx]

My BI PC is bolted into my network rack,

Point taken.

I will consider disguising the recording device as well as a decoy.

 

[TonyR]

My BI PC is bolted into my network rack, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't also steal my tools to get it out.

I have considered getting SD cards for certain cameras in case something were to happen and the NVR were to disappear. The POE switches and PC are already on a battery back up that would hopefully allow captures if the power were to out or cut.

Man, a UPS battery that big could do some pretty good welding!

 

[Rebelx]

Need to start selling fake face plates that make your NVR appear as a VHS player

Sorry to hear of your predicament OP

Thanks.

Not the worst idea by far. They didn't take the ancient DVD player.....

 

[Rebelx]

2 NVRs, one out in the open another secreted away. All cams run through POE switches so
only 1 Ethernet cable to the NVRs. Also on the "take-me" NVR, run dummy Ethernet cables
to the wall.

Point taken. I will consider that one. Easily done.

While that type of break-in is probably rare in a typical residential setting

I agree. This almost looks like a practice run for some other job they are doing? They broke in a took the evidence that recorded that they broke in. Total loss is only about $1000 maximum assuming 'as new' price.