Before robbing homes, a cunning burglary ring in Edina, Minnesota, disables connected home surveillance cameras with Wi-Fi jammers.
According to a recent Toms Hardware post, in Edina, a wealthy Minneapolis suburb, police suspect that hackers have been employing Wi-Fi jammers to deactivate security cameras in nine different burglaries over the last six months. The burglars are said to target upscale residences that are vacant and use jammers to stop popular consumer-grade wireless camera systems from recording damning video during the crimes.
The thieves take off with “safes, jewels, and other high-end luxury things,” according to local news source KARE11. According to a security expert, the jammers impede genuine connections by causing traffic congestion rather than completely blocking wireless signals. Even though it’s against the law to sell or use jammers in the United States, you can get them for as low as $40 online.
In recent years, there have been increased reports of robbers using Wi-Fi jammers. Some Ring doorbell users complained in 2020 that during porch thefts, deauthentication assaults rendered their devices inoperable. For tech-savvy burglars, it has become a simple and inexpensive method with the rise of smart home appliances and wireless security cameras.
There are choices available to homeowners who are worried about the security of wireless security systems. Smart home automation that simulates homeowner presence can discourage intruders, as can physically connecting certain equipment over Ethernet to avoid jamming. Checking if your gadgets can transmit alerts in the event of a broken wireless connection is another thing users should do.
However, as the Edina instance shows, there are still vulnerabilities in wireless home technology that crooks are learning to take advantage of. There will probably be an increase in jammer-assisted burglary incidents across the country as more people use these unsecure gadgets.
