Nebraska AG files lawsuit, offers warning about Lorex home security cameras

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers announced a lawsuit and consumer alert Tuesday for home surveillance cameras he said are vulnerable to hacking and have ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

“These are cameras that are being placed in people’s nurseries,” Hilgers said. “They’re cameras that are watching the most intimate parts of people’s home or the places surrounding their homes. They’ve told regular Nebraskans and Americans, for that matter, that these products are safe.”

Hilgers said the company Lorex, which makes the cameras, was previously owned by Chinese military company Dahua. While the company has been sold, Hilgers said the Lorex cameras use software and firmware developed by the Chinese government, which poses security concerns.

“Unfortunately, that split when Lorex left Dahua was in name only,” Hilgers said. “We know that the manufacturing infrastructure, the firmware of these particular products, are still made by Dahua. They’re still connected to Dahua.”

Hilgers also said the cameras were generally vulnerable to audio and video hacking, which could allow for child exploitation.

Hilgers said he believes misleading statements from Lorex violate the Nebraska Consumer Protection Act and Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act. A lawsuit filed by the Attorney General’s Office in state court targets statements the company made claiming that its cameras were secure.

“Both the manufacturer as well as the sites that are selling these products are telling consumers that these products — these cameras — are safe and that they’re secure and that they protect their privacy,” Hilgers said. “We believe that those things are misleading and not ultimately true.”

Lorex cameras are sold by popular retailers like Kohls, Home Depot and Nebraska Furniture Mart.

Hilgers is not pushing retailers to take the cameras off the shelf. Instead, the lawsuit aims to promote honesty.

“Just either be honest or don’t sell,” Hilgers said. “So, if you don’t want to be honest with consumers, and you’re going to sell products, in this case that pose significant security and privacy risk to their family, and you don’t want to tell them that, then yeah, you should stop selling.”

While the Attorney General’s Office did not have specific guidelines for Nebraskans who own the cameras, Hilgers suggested people should immediately unplug the cameras if they’re able and do their own research on how to stay safe.

“I know cameras are expensive and it’s not within everyone’s capability to just go simply buy another one,” Hilgers said. “I would take it offline and maybe do research as to whether or not there’s any patches or fixes that could be applied.”

Hilgers said his office is not aware of any instances of Nebraskans having Lorex cameras hacked.

“We hope that there are none, and we’re hopeful that we’re getting well enough advanced to the problem that there will be none,” Hilgers said.

The Lorex lawsuit seeks civil penalties and injunctive relief. It follows similar legal actions from the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office focused on consumer products from other Chinese companies like Temu and TikTok.