Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers has filed a major lawsuit against smart home company Resideo, claiming the company sold consumers insecure cameras while actively hiding their true origins, as per Tom’s Hardware. This is a big deal, especially since Resideo is a massive Honeywell spin-off with a market capitalization over $5 billion.
The security risks associated with some home cameras, particularly those from more affordable brands, are becoming a known issue in the industry. The core of Hilgers’ complaint is that Resideo failed to properly tell you that the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for its cameras were Hikvision and Dahua. If those names ring a bell, they should. The U.S. government has been seriously concerned about these two Chinese companies for years.
The reason for the concern is chilling. The FCC officially banned equipment from both Hikvision and Dahua back in November 2022 because of threats to national security. The lawsuit claims that Resideo sold these cameras under its own Capture brand at least from 2021 to 2022, obscuring their origin from unsuspecting buyers.
It’s truly awful when you realize the camera meant to protect your family might actually be leaking video to third parties
Hilgers’ lawsuit, filed in Nebraska state court, alleges that Resideo violated both the Nebraska Consumer Protection Act and the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Art. Essentially, the company is accused of selling gear known to be insecure to people who didn’t suspect a thing. That’s a huge problem for consumers who thought they were buying a secure, reliable product.
It gets worse, too. Even outside of governmental concerns, security professionals have been scrutinizing equipment from both Hikvision and Dahua for almost ten years now. They weren’t just finding plain old security holes; they were finding intentional backdoors designed for remote access. This isn’t just a matter of poor software updates; this is fundamental design that puts your private data at risk. And there has been a massive data breach from private cameras, so this isn’t even a theoretical threat.
This lawsuit against Resideo joins an ever-growing list of legal actions targeting sellers of Chinese smart devices. Just this past September, AG Hilgers filed a similar lawsuit against Lorex, another camera manufacturer whose gear you can find in major retailers like Costco and Best Buy. Lorex was reportedly marketing its cameras as “private by design,” while conveniently forgetting to mention that their OEMs were also sanctioned by the U.S. for similar security reasons.
Other states are getting busy, too. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is currently suing heavy hitters like Sony, LG, Samsung, TCL, and HiSense over how they collect data, specifically citing automated TV screenshot collection. And down in Arizona, AG Kris Mayes filed a lawsuit against Temu, focusing on data collection, privacy, and counterfeiting concerns.
We also just saw the FCC officially ban DJI drones, which is another huge step in limiting the use of certain Chinese technology in the U.S. Given how prevalent Chinese OEMs are inside common household electronics today, you can bet this tale is only just getting started. This is a serious warning sign that you need to be extremely careful about what brands you trust to secure your smart home.
Published: Dec 24, 2025 01:30 pm