Eufy Video Smart Lock

Smart locks are one of those connected devices that seem to worry lots of people. The pros: They offer a lot of convenience with multiple ways to unlock the door to your home, a way to track who comes and goes from your home, they can allow you give out a keypad number to people like a babysitter and then revoke that when they no longer need access, and they can help you make sure you locked your front door when your anxiety kicks in on vacation. The cons: They can be vulnerable to any number of things such as power outages, lost or compromised phones, ransomware attacks on the company who made your lock, product security vulnerabilities, WiFi and/or Bluetooth vulnerabilities, home hub vulnerabilities, bad software updates, data leaks, and more.

With all that said, how does Eufy’s Smart Video Lock stack up? This lock is a mix of video doorbell plus WiFi//Keypad/Fingerprint/Key smart lock. So, there are lots of ways to open it. It can be controlled from just about anywhere with the Eufy Security app. And that fingerprint data of yours is stored locally on the device rather than on the internet in the cloud where it could be more vulnerable, which is great. It’s also great we found no known security breaches of Eufy’s smart locks.

Unfortunately, Eufy has had some significant security vulnerabilities with their security cameras. In June 2022, security experts foundthree security vulnerabilities in Eufy's Homebase 2 video storage and management device that could have allowed hackers to take control of the hub, control it remotely, or steal video footage. Eufy/Anker developed fixes for these security vulnerabilities and released them to users in a timely manner. And in May 2021, Eufy was forced to apologize for a bug that exposed the camera feeds of 712 users to strangers. Eufy said the glitch happened during a software update and “users were able to access video feeds from other users’ cameras.” Eufy said in a statement the glitch was fixed an hour after it was discovered. So, the bad news is, Eufy’s security cameras have had some serious security issues. The good news is, Eufy seems to have stepped up and immediately fixed these bugs and to get them out to their users quickly.

So, the bad news is, Eufy’s security cameras have had some serious security issues. The good news is, Eufy as a company seems to have stepped up and immediately fixed these bugs and to get the updates out to their users quickly. While these security oopsies happened to their video cameras, not their smart locks, it’s a good reminder that software updates can go wrong, which wouldn’t be good for your smart lock.

On the privacy front, Eufy’s privacy policy says they can collect a good deal of personal information on you -- things like name, email, gender, birth date, location, device information, and more. And while Eufy says they don’t sell your personal information -- which is good -- they say they can use that information to show you ads from them and third party advertisers, which isn’t so good (but also pretty standard on the internet these days). They also say they can collect personal information on you from third parties who provide it to them, such as law enforcement authorities. This worries us a bit because the way that line in their privacy policy is written is rather vague and seems like it could leave open the possibility they could collect information on users from a variety of third parties, for example, data brokers.

What’s the worst that could happen? Well, it is a smart lock that can be unlocked with an app over WiFi, with your phone through Bluetooth if you’re up to 30 feet away, with your fingerprint, with a keypad, and with an actual key. That’s a lot of ways to open a door. Which potentially means there are more ways for your door to be vulnerable to opening. At least you’ve got that camera there recording if someone comes up with your phone (or chopped off finger) and tries to open your door. Hopefully there will be no finger chopping! Or phone hacking though. Both those would be bad.