Wyze, a Seattle-based tech company specializing in smart home products and wireless cameras, has a significant security update in an effort to regain trust. The company has faced numerous security breaches over the past few years, including a notable incident where an AWS outage allowed thousands of users to access recorded videos from other people’s homes. This, combined with the company’s history of inadequate responses to security flaws, led The New York Times to explicitly stopping recommendations for Wyze products over a year ago.

In a announcement, Wyze introduced a new layer of security called Wyze VerifiedView. This added layer works by embedding a unique user ID into the camera’s firmware during setup, which is then stamped onto every photo, video, and livestream. Before any device can access the footage, the Wyze software checks that the embedded ID matches the user’s ID, ensuring that only authorized users can view the content.

According to Wyze, this new layer of security builds upon its existing robust security structure, which the company describes as akin to “barbed wire fencing, booby traps, security guards, acid sharks, laser scanners, and AI robot guard dogs.” However, it’s worth noting that the announcement video mentioned that VerifiedView may not be compatible with older models, such as the Wyze Cam Pan V1 and V2, due to hardware limitations.

Wyze has been rolling out this update to its most popular models since early April, and users of these models can receive the update by updating their firmware and app. However, the company has not specified which models will receive the update, except to say that some other models will receive it over the coming weeks and months.

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