How to access your IP camera over Meshnet
Learn how to access your home IP camera remotely using Meshnet.
Introduction
Security cameras are becoming a popular purchase for every household. They allow you to see what is happening in your home 24/7. While having cameras is a good security practice, the method of accessing them can raise privacy concerns.
Security cameras tend to come with proprietary software that allows you to access them remotely. However, for the application to function, the cameras send data to a cloud server and only then to your device. This flow of information leaves more space for interception by a malicious entity. In addition, the video feed leaving your home network and going through a third-party server can be considered unsafe.
Setting up port forwarding is another method to have direct remote access to the cameras, without using additional software. Nevertheless, opening ports can leave your network vulnerable to hackers.
By using Meshnet, you can easily access your home IP camera without opening additional ports in your firewall. The connections are made via encrypted tunnels using NordLynx technology. This results in fast and secure access from anywhere in the world.
In this article, you will find instructions on how to access your home IP cameras over Meshnet.
Prerequisites
Before starting the setup process, ensure that:
You have a host device for traffic routing.
You have an IP camera that supports connections via its IP address.
You know the IP camera’s local IP address and port number (if required).
The host device and the IP camera are in the same local area network (LAN).
Set up a host device
First, set up Meshnet on your traffic routing-capable device, which will act as an intermediary between your client devices and the network camera you want to access.
Install NordVPN
Instructions for downloading and installing NordVPN can be found in the following articles:
Manage permissions
After installing the app, you must enable the following Meshnet permissions for all peer devices that you want to have access to the IP camera:
The permissions can be managed in the Meshnet menu of the NordVPN app.
Connect to an IP camera
With Meshnet fully set up, you can start using the traffic routing feature to reach your IP camera from outside of the home network.
Route traffic
First, you need to start routing traffic from a client device through the host device you have set up. To do this, follow the steps provided in the Routing traffic in Meshnet article.
Example
Access the IP camera
With the traffic routing connection established, the client device can freely interact with all devices located in the host device’s LAN, including the IP cameras. This allows you to access your camera using an internet browser.
Open your internet browser.
In the URL bar, enter the following:
<IP>:<Port>/Where: •<IP>is the local IP address of the network camera. •<Port>is the port used by the network camera (if required). Example:
The interface of your IP camera should load, giving you full access to the camera.
Caution
Ensure you set up strong user authentication for your camera's interface. Without it, other devices in your Meshnet that have traffic routing and local network permissions enabled can also interact with your IP camera, potentially compromising its security.
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