Scott’s Spot 1 – Wyze Customer Exposure

What Happened?

• Some customer data was left in an insecure state that could have allowed anyone with read level access to view the data.

Why it happened?

• The statement said it had not been determined exactly how it happened but that a security policy on a subset of data in an internal database was removed which could have allowed the data to be accessed by users without the proper clearance.
• The data had been copied from their production servers to allow queries to more efficiently be run against it while not affecting customer interactions with the Wyze systems.

What is the company doing about it?

• They issued a very long statement detailing what they thought had happened and according to the statement are reviewing their internal security controls and ensuring that all employees are trained in how to properly implement and maintain them.
  • I was impressed at the depth of the detail they went into with the statement. It shows that customer experience and customer privacy are important to them.
• This is a perfect segway into one of my previous episodes where I talked about how publicly traded companies have to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley act regarding internal controls. This does not apply to Wyze Labs since it is a privately held company according to CrunchBase.
  • https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/wyze-labs#section-overview
• Please go back and review Episode #12 – Ball and Chain of Custody.
  • http://scott-talks-tech.buzzsprout.com/730172/2343971-episode-12-ball-and-chain-of-custody-legal-requirements

Episode #14 – Wyze home automation hardware review

Last episode recap

• In the last episode, we discuss artifact repositories and how they are useful tools that can be used in your devops/CICD to enhance your ability to provide value to your business customers…..faster.

Summary of this episode

• In this episode, I will review the Wyze home automation components that I have purchased and installed. I will cover the pros, cons, and any gotchas that I have experienced with each item. I will also talk about the ordering process, order tracking, shipping, delivery, and customer service.

Episode Content

What’s in it for you?

• After listening to this episode, you should have a better understanding of many of the Wyze products and the pros and cons of each as experienced by me.

Wyze products

• Stationary Camera
  • pros
    • small
    • cheap
    • night vision
    • lightweight
    • wide angle
    • 180 degree flip if mounted upside down
    • micro sd card slot – I have a 120 gb card in all of mine
  • cons
    • inside only – there are outside mounts from 3^rd party vendors but they might not be waterproof
    • can’t use night vision through a window
    • must have external power

• Motion Sensors
  • pros
    • very small – a little bigger than a quarter
    • battery operated
  • cons
    • range of motion detection varies from location to location
    • range of detection depends on temperature and weather

• Contact Sensors
  • pros
    • very small
    • battery operated
    • self stick tape provided
  • cons
    • angle of installation is very important – not unique to wyze
    • alert can be delayed a couple of minutes for some reason

• Light Bulbs
  • pros
    • adjustable luminosity
    • dimmable
  • cons
    • only one style so far

• Plugs
  • pros
    • can be controlled remotely
    • has a manual switch on the side of the plug
  • cons
    • bigger than some of the other plugs on the market

• Automation bridge – allows the use of motion sensors, contact sensors, plugs and light bulbs.
  • pros
    • inserts into an existing camera
    • a single bridge can handle many devices.
    • Can have more than one bridge on your network.
  • cons
    • requires an existing camera to use
    • placement of the camera can cause dead spots in coverage as they communicate directly and apparently not over the WIFI connection.

Ordering

• Ordering was easy from the wyze website and I paid with my PayPal account. You can also pay with the normal credit/debit card combos.
• I have also ordered a couple of stand alone cameras from the Amazon website and it was easy start to finish as usual.

Shipping

• Shipping was prompt once it was initiated.

Tracking

• I had a problem with this as I could not get the order to show up in my order details on my Wyze account since I was not logged into the Wyze website when I placed my order.
• I did get the initial “order received” email with the order number and information but even from the Wyze website I could not use it to find or track my order. Their support site talks about a page to track your order based on email address and order number but that actually only linked back to the account login page.

Delivery

• Delivery was fast once it was processed through their systems. Once again, I can not give accurate time-frames since I could not track my order.
• The package was surprisingly small. I had 2 cameras, 2 plugs, 1 automation pack (bridge, 1 motion sensor, 2 contact sensors), 4pk of contact sensors, 4pk of light bulbs. The box it all came in was smaller than 1 cubic foot.

Customer Service

• Customer service was excellent but all they could tell me that the order was still in process. I chatted with a couple of agents and was told that I would get follow up emails from their systems once my order processed. Once again, I got no emails. Not the customer service agents fault…..but a little frustrating at the end of the day.

Recap of this episode

• In this episode, we discussed the Wyze product suite of home automation that I have purchased as well as some of the pros and cons of each item.

Next Episode: The need for early testing in software delivery

Episode #4 - Podcast with a question

Hi all,

 Thanks for checking out this episode of Scott Talks Tech.

I need to find a way to record remote interview sessions with multiple tracks. This will allow me to normalize the volume levels so that the conversation sounds natural.

Here is my setup and what I have tried so far:

Linux Laptop - PopOS 18.04 (Ubuntu based)
Blue Yeti Microphone
SkypeForLinux installed
Open Broadcast Studio installed
Audacity installed

 I have tried to use all the tips and tricks from google and youTube to get this to work but the only thing I have accomplished is to raise my frustration level and record my audio and skype to a single track.

 I was trying to not spend a bunch of money on an external audio recorder but that may be the best option with a Linux laptop. I did find a review on youTube today for Zencastr, so I'm going to check that out tonight.

 Thanks for checking this out, Scott