A plug-and-play surveillance system that can be set up by even computer-illiterates is disclosed herein. The system comprises an external storage device connected to a computing device and a monitoring device. A registration and matching service receives at least one unique identification code from the external storage device and the monitoring device and uses it to establish a unique pairing between the external storage device and the monitoring device. Subsequent communication between them can be directly established without the need of re-registration. The present invention provides a convenient surveillance system without complex setting and configuration. The present invention also provides higher privacy level and flexibility that additional features can be added to the system based on the user's need.