Codebreaker

Secure the security cameras

Marc Sanchez May 15, 2012

Cameras are everywhere these days… stores, gas stations, freeways, banks, and buildings. The problem, and this seems like something that can easily be fixed, is that off the shelf versions are pretty easy to hack. From Wired: “Three of the most popular brands of closed-circuit surveillance cameras are sold with remote internet access enabled by default, and with weak password security — a classic recipe for security failure that could allow hackers to remotely tap into the video feeds, according to new research.” It seems pretty counter productive to go out and buy a nice, new security system only to leave place the virtual key to that system under the virtual doormat. On the other hand, not everybody who buys a security system wants to monitor its feed online, and some don’t even know the possibility exists, but if the default is set for online viewing, the feed is out there for the hacking.
The report was issued by Gotham Digital Science. Wired goes on to note: “The team found more than 1,000 closed-circuit TV cameras that were exposed to the internet and thus susceptible to remote compromise, due to inherent vulnerabilities in the systems and to the tendency of the companies to configure them insecurely.”

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