BELLAIRE, Texas – Surveillance video from a Bellaire backyard over the weekend captured a troubling new tactic used by burglars to avoid detection.
Three suspects approached a security camera holding up a backpack, which the Bellaire Police Department said likely contained a Wi-Fi jammer device.
The jammer distorted the video feed, turning what could have been clear footage into fuzzy images of little use for identifying the suspects.
Nigel Neilsen, president of Nickel Idealtek and an IT expert, explained the technology behind the device.
“They’re overwhelming the signal and causing what’s called a packet disruption,” Neilsen said. This interference prevents the camera from transmitting clear video.
Neilsen suggested the suspects may have used a relatively inexpensive Wi-Fi jammer, which he estimated can be built for about $60 or less and assembled in under 30 minutes.
The device works simply by pointing it at the camera, causing data interference that disrupts the video feed.
“That’s why you can kind of see the image blur along the track that the person is walking. That’s just data that ends up being missed in the transmission, and it needs to be reconstructed on the other end,” he said.
This high-tech crime trend is not isolated.
Earlier this year, Los Angeles police warned about similar break-ins where Wi-Fi jammers were used to disable surveillance cameras, according to this report from NBC Los Angeles.
Neilsen recommends several steps to protect home security cameras from such attacks:
- Updating the firmware and hardware of Wi-Fi cameras
- Having multiple cameras covering the same area from different angles can help capture footage even if one camera is jammed
“They could hold it up to one camera, but you’re going to get them from a separate angle that is further away,” he said.
He also recommended using cameras with SD card recording backups or hardwired surveillance systems to prevent criminals from blocking the video feed.
Bellaire police said the burglars stole items from inside the home and are asking the community for any information that could help with the ongoing investigation.