Trying to....learning as I go...not proficient in linux scripting and iptables and editors, etc.
Yep, understand what your saying...although I fully understand that a VPN connection is a must and not to forward ports, use upnp, cloud crap, or anything else. What I am getting at is that even with all this done (VPN setup etc) that only blocks incoming connections to your cams not outgoing. So say you buy a "shady" cam from ali or ebay or somewhere else (which a lot of folks do) and the crappy firmware they put on the cam contains some kind of hidden menu or whatever else that can still make a connection outbound (out of your network) and connect back to a Chinese dude sitting behind a keyboard...that's what I have a concern about and really what I was getting at with all my posts. This is something I noticed last night looking at my connection logs on my router and now I need to take further action and attempt to block this via rules in my FW.
Well said, same thing I am trying to convey. I am not concerned about the VPN/P2P right now, I'm more concerned about what this IP camera is sending out through firmware/software I am using.
I am using reolink right now and I am seeing this camera communicating with odd IPs in China... I have no way to block just an IP, if I block the software totally I cannot view the camera, it is has been a pain to try to setup BI so I quit trying with reolink and just use their software.
My router has no option to view connections or outbound/inbound, it is all done through my ISP, I can port-forward to setup a vpn but that is it.
I caught the IPs with firewall software but it does not allow to block just one IP, it can only block the entire software but then I cannot view the cameras.