Cloud video backup against DVR theft
Cloud video backup against DVR theft is the recording of a site's cameras to storage outside the building, so the footage of a break-in survives when the recorder is stolen, smashed or unplugged on the way out. The recorder is the one box that holds every camera's evidence, and it sits in the building being burgled. Camzify records each camera to its own off-site storage as the frames arrive, with retention set per camera, and camera tampering detection raises the moment a camera goes dark.
- Footage stored off site as it is captured
- Retention by days or GB, per camera
- A camera going dark raises at once
The burglar leaves with the evidence
A recorder in the back office or under the counter is the single place where every camera on the site writes its footage. Whoever takes it, smashes it or pulls its plug removes the record of every camera at once, including the record of themselves arriving. The cameras keep working and have nowhere to write.
The advice police give businesses is to keep recording equipment in a secure location with restricted access. A locked cabinet slows a burglar with a crowbar; it does not stop one, and it does nothing for a recorder that is simply unplugged. The footage has to be somewhere the burglar is not.
The second problem is time. A covered lens or a camera turned to the wall is usually found when someone goes looking for the footage, which is after the loss. By then the gap is a fact, and the question of what happened has no answer.
“Dock door left unsecured after delivery — confirm and lock.”
Unacknowledged alerts escalate to the backup contact after the configured window.
The footage is already somewhere else
Cloud video backup writes each camera's stream to Camzify storage as it is captured, so the record of a break-in leaves the building while the break-in is happening.
- Recording is continuous or scheduled per camera, and a schedule can be applied to a site or to every camera at once.
- Retention is set per camera, by days or by a storage cap in GB, and the presets of 7, 30, 60 or 90 days apply to the whole account in one action.
- Storage is shown as provisioned, used, assigned and remaining, and the storage estimate for a camera is labeled as an estimate.
- Playback scrubs the recording and a download exports a clip for a chosen time range.
Camera tampering detection covers the moment before the recorder is touched, when the first thing a burglar does is deal with the camera.
- A covered lens, a sudden defocus, a camera turned or moved, an abnormal brightness shift or frozen frames each raise a notification with the frame.
- The notification goes to the person designated for that camera on the channels set for that severity, through notifications and alerts.
- Zone intrusion detection in the hours the premises are closed raises on a tracked person on the floor, before anyone reaches the back office.
- Cameras on a local network reach Camzify through the Camzify Connector with no port forwarding, and a recorder that publishes RTSP can be the source instead of the cameras.
Video backup and retention
Every camera recorded off site as it is captured, with its own retention by days or GB.
DetectionCamera tampering detection
A covered, turned, defocused or frozen camera raised at that moment, with the frame.
DetectionZone intrusion detection
The shop floor, the stockroom or the unit corridor as a zone after hours. A tracked person is the event.
DetectionNotifications and alerts
Channels per alert category and severity, per camera, so a dark camera reaches the person who will act.
- Back door closedCompliant
- Recorder cabinet shutCompliant
- No person on the shop floorCompliant
- Camera view unobstructedNot compliant
A failed item is resolved as Fixed or Pending before the round can close.
What the closing round checks before the night
The round that matters for this scenario is the closing round: a short sequence through the doors, the recorder cabinet, the floor and every camera's own view. Camera view unobstructed is on every stop, because a camera that is already blocked at closing time records nothing useful at 03:00, whether or not its recorder survives.
A failed item captures the frame and messages the person designated for that camera, and the item stays open until it is marked fixed with an after frame. A site that runs the round every night has a timestamped record that each camera was clear and each door was shut, which is also what an insurer asks for. Camera health monitoring is the round that keeps the cameras themselves in order.
A check found Not Compliant captures a snapshot and messages the guard designated for that camera; on a manual round the operator chooses to send it, on an automated round it goes on its own. The item stays Pending until it is marked Fixed, which captures the after frame, and the report shows both.
Why it matters, in published figures
Figures from the FBI, the Bureau of Justice Statistics and police crime-prevention guidance, linked to the page each comes from. None of them is a Camzify figure; we publish none.
- 373,766
- Estimated burglaries at non-residence locations, "e.g., stores and offices", in the United States in 2024, against 405,776 at residences. Nearly half of the estimated burglaries were somewhere other than a home.
- Source: FBI, UCR Summary of Reported Crimes in the Nation, 2024
- 40.7%
- Share of burglary or trespassing victimizations reported to police in 2024, down from 42.7% in 2023, in the Bureau of Justice Statistics' household survey. A report is only as useful as the record behind it.
- Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Criminal Victimization, 2024
- Secure location
- The Philadelphia Police Department's advice to businesses: "Keep recording equipment in a secure location," and "Ensure cameras have ample storage and that employees know how to download or share images with police."
- Source: City of Philadelphia, crime prevention tips for your business (2023)
- Restricted access
- UK counter-terrorism policing's CCTV guidance: "Recording equipment should be placed in a secure area with restricted access," with storage sized to retain images for as long as can be justified.
- Source: ProtectUK (NaCTSO), CCTV guidance
What it will not do
Off-site footage is evidence that survives; it is not a lock on the door.
- It will not stop the break-in, and it does not claim to. It records, notifies the person designated for the camera and files the report; the person decides.
- It will not record after the link is cut. Footage is off site up to the moment the router is unplugged or the machine running the Connector is taken, and everything before that moment is kept.
- It will not record a camera that has been smashed, or one covered before the recording started.
- It will not keep footage past its retention. A camera set to 30 days or to a storage cap rolls its oldest footage off to make room, and scheduled recording captures only in its hours.
We do not publish bandwidth per camera, uptime or detection rates for tampering. The trust page sets out why, and the retention guide covers how long to keep footage.
Industries where this applies
Frequently asked questions
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