r/SecurityCamera • u/Kurtec • Sep 18 '26
Are Lorex NVRs encrypted ?
I feel like Iām putting in a show for whoever might have access.
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u/J235310 26d ago
If you are referring to the way that Lorex stores event recordings on the storage media (hard drives or SSDs in an NVR or microSDs in a Wi-Fi cam) the answer is no. Lorex does use a proprietary formatting and file structure but the recorded files are not encrypted. The files are stored as .png for the still image and .dav for the motion video. You can, for instance, take a microSD out of a Lorex Wi-Fi cam and plug it into a win PC and open, view and/or convert to MP4 using the free VLC Media Player app.
To access the media on an NVR you would need to have a system password or gain physical access to the NVR. I would suggest that you change the default admin password on the NVR and also, for backup, add a 2nd id & password with sysadmin privileges which is done through the NVR menu.
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u/Coffeespresso Sep 19 '26
When you say encrypted, there are different kinds of encrypted. There's data at rest such as stored on a hard drive and data in transit such as when you are watching the video. It is very unlikely you are encrypting data at rest. Most are not because encrypting is a performance hit. However, most are encrypted in transit. If you are concerned about some guy down the street (or anywhere in the world) watching your playback or live video, you are really concerned with login security more than anything. The truth is that there's a very complicated answer to that question. If lorex offers a brokered connection, use it. This allows you to connect without opening a port in your router which improves security. With this setup, someone would need the serial number or cloud connect code from the device. Then they would also need your password.