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About this tool
Weighted 15-point hardening checklist for baby cameras, plus an exposure model showing whether the feed is reachable from the internet or only nearby.
This checklist hardens a baby monitor against the two failures behind almost every reported takeover — an unchanged factory password and a camera left reachable from the internet — using fifteen weighted controls across credentials, network exposure, device settings and placement. It also scores exposure from the connection type you actually own, from a DECT audio unit that never touches your network to a port-forwarded Wi-Fi camera that scanners index within hours, adjusted by the settings you have in place. Written for parents and carers setting up a monitor, or auditing one bought second-hand.
Open Baby Monitor Security Checklist on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Default credentials and port forwarding outrank cosmetic settings, and a missing critical control caps the score.
The exposure model states whether the risk is the whole internet, the street, or nobody outside the house.
Cable distance and placement sit alongside the security controls, because they are the risk most likely to cause harm.
Overwhelmingly through credentials rather than clever exploits: an unchanged factory password, a password reused from a site that was breached, or a camera exposed to the internet by port forwarding or UPnP so it can be found by automated scanning. Changing the default password, enabling two-factor authentication and never forwarding a port closes almost all of it.
DECT and modern FHSS audio monitors are the lowest-exposure option because the link is digital, encrypted and never touches your network or the internet — an eavesdropper has to be within radio range with specialist equipment. Older analogue 2.4 GHz video monitors are the opposite: the picture is broadcast unencrypted, so any compatible receiver nearby can watch it.
Turn it off if you only ever watch from elsewhere in the house. Remote viewing is the feature that makes the camera reachable from outside your network, so disabling it removes an entire class of risk at no cost, and it can be switched back on for a night away.
Only after a factory reset and a check that it is unlinked from the previous owner's account, since a reset clears stored Wi-Fi credentials and account binding on the device. Also confirm the model still receives firmware updates — a camera that stopped being supported keeps any known vulnerability for as long as it stays plugged in.