Federal Trade Commission sued D Link earlier this month for allegedly poor security in its routers and security cameras. The remaining cameras — the Netatmo Welcome, the Smartfrog Cam and the Withings Home — all got passable marks, with a mix of "secured," "vulnerable" and partially vulnerable features. The exact minutiae of each model are not interesting unless you happen to own one of those particular cameras, but issues ranged from "unsecured transmission of live preview image" to "firmware update transmitted unencrypted. " These cameras may not exactly invite cybercriminals into your home, but they don't do everything in their power to keep the criminals out, either. This is not the only instance in which home security cameras have recently come under fire for poor security. Last week, a group of researchers unearthed a huge flaw in the Samsung SmartCam SNH 1011's software, which the researchers believe may affect the entire Samsung SmartCam line. A company called Hanwha Techwin licenses the Samsung name to produce these cameras. It's possible that the Samsung SmartCam HD, a model that we've reviewed, is affeceted. Cheapo cameras from no name manufacturers are even worse, with some having flaws so egregious that researchers recommended that users literally toss them in the garbage. Unsecured IP security cameras can provide cybercriminals not only with not only video, but usually sound and still photos as well, of your home or office. If that weren't reason enough to choose a secure camera, unencrypted transmissions could also leak your Wi Fi password or router credentials, giving an attacker complete control over your home network.