About remote access to a wired surveillance system

[nickf77]

I work at a restaurant, where the owner maintains a fairly complex (and quite impressive) surveillance system. It's more for keeping an eye on the workers than on the customers. The cameras are all wired (that is, the cords go into the walls), and all are combined in the restaurant office, where the manager can watch them on a monitor. But here's the crazy part.

The owner can watch the cameras from his house.

He'll occasionally call the restaurant ratting one of us out doing something we shouldn't have been doing, so he obviously has live feeds of the camera's at home. My question is this: if he can see the camera feeds at his house, does that mean the feeds are being broadcast out over the internet somewhere? And perhaps accessed by IP? I'm pretty confused about the whole system, and a little creeped out that he's always got a live eye on us 24/7. Any thoughts?

 

[johnlgalt]

Pretty much - the system of access may vary, but the idea is that he is able to connect to it using some method (VPN type connection, direct IP and / or port, etc.)

My boss at the airport I worked at had a similar system - he could (and did) always dial in to see what was going on....

This does not mean it is necessarily broadcast all the time though - it could mean the stream is there for authenticated users only, and only after authentication is the broadcast set up.

 

[nickf77]

This does not mean it is necessarily broadcast all the time though - it could mean the stream is there for authenticated users only, and only after authentication is the broadcast set up.

I didn't even know that was possible haha, but part of me is thinking it's less thought out than that, seeing as the owner is an old Korean who speaks hardly a lick of English and can't work a cell phone...

 

[mancow]

Many DVRs have the ability for IP connectivity. We have one at work that does th same thing. I can install the software anywhere in the world and view it as long as I have the IP and login creds for it.

 

[nickf77]

Many DVRs have the ability for IP connectivity. We have one at work that does th same thing. I can install the software anywhere in the world and view it as long as I have the IP and login creds for it.

Wow, I really didnt know this technology existed. I've never really been all into security systems and how they work, but I have to admit, all this being "watched" makes a guy wonder.....if there's any way to get in on the surveillance. May sound a bit malicious, but that's just what's going through my mind right now. And now I feel like a rebel

 

[Sainix]

Wow, I really didnt know this technology existed. I've never really been all into security systems and how they work, but I have to admit, all this being "watched" makes a guy wonder.....if there's any way to get in on the surveillance. May sound a bit malicious, but that's just what's going through my mind right now. And now I feel like a rebel

Lol i like this idea i feel like this all the time hahahaha

 

[Frisco]

I work at a restaurant, where the owner maintains a fairly complex (and quite impressive) surveillance system.

The owner can watch the cameras from his house.

He'll occasionally call the restaurant ratting one of us out doing something we shouldn't have been doing, so he obviously has live feeds of the camera's at home.

That whole thing goes back and forth in my mind from, "cool, that's clever," to, "that boss seems a bit creepy."

 

[Martimus]

Welcome to the Internet age...

Technology allows people to do lots of things from across the Internet that were formerly impossible. Some of my favorites are to turn on/off alarm systems, turn on/off lights and/or air conditioning, and (as I frequently do) keep tabs on my house and the dogs when I'm traveling.

I wonder how long it'll be that I'll be able to check the status of my garage door remotely (the older I get the more frequently I forget to close the blasted thing!)?