Tag Archive for: webcams

Russian Agents Hack Webcams to Guide Missile Attacks on Kyiv

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The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has asked owners and operators of webcams in the country to stop broadcasts from their devices over concerns about Russia’s intelligence services using the feeds to conduct military reconnaissance against strategic targets.

The SSU’s move follows a recent incident where Russian agents hacked into two residential webcams in Kyiv to gather information on the city’s air defense systems prior to launching a missile attack on the Ukrainian capital.

Residential Webcams

In a statement, the SSU described one of the webcams as being located on top of a Kyiv apartment building — apparently near a critical infrastructure facility — and being used by the condo association to monitor the surrounding area. Russian intelligence services hacked into the camera, changed its viewing angle, and streamed its live feed to YouTube from which they monitored everything within the camera’s range.

The second camera too was located at a residential complex in Kyiv, this one for monitoring the building’s parking facility. Russian agents took control of the webcam the same way they did with the first and used it to gather information on an adjacent critical infrastructure facility. “The aggressor used these cameras to collect data to prepare and adjust strikes on Kyiv,” the SSU said. “Based on the uncovered facts, the SSU is acting to neutralize new attempts by the invaders to conduct reconnaissance and sabotage through online cameras.”

So far, this has meant blocking the operation of some 10,000 IP cameras in Ukraine that Russia could have used to inform its missile attacks on the country, the SSU said. In its statement, the state security agency reminded citizens and operators of street webcams in the country about their obligation not to broadcast video and images that Russia could use for targeted attacks. “Remember: it is forbidden to film and publish photos and videos of the operation of the Defence Forces and the consequences of enemy attacks,” the SSU said. “The publication of such material on the Internet is considered to be adjustment of enemy fire and is subject to criminal liability.”

The Broader Threat

Russia’s hacking of IP cameras and the country’s use of…

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Father who hacked into 772 webcams to watch 47 women have sex was captured by the FBI after tip off

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  • Christopher Taylor was caught after the FBI was tipped off by IT specialists

A father-of-three who hacked into hundreds of webcams across the world so he could spy on women undressing and having sex is facing jail after IT specialists tipped off the FBI. 

Christopher Taylor, 60, was caught when IT staff at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta alerted the FBI after the malware was found on the laptop of a student at its aerospace laboratory.

Taylor had tricked 772 people in 39 different countries into unwittingly relinquishing control of their computers so he could monitor their private lives over a three-year period.

Police believe 47 women were secretly watched by the married man from his laptop at his £170,000 semi-detached home in Wigan, Greater Manchester, while engaging in sexual activity with their partners. 

A prosecutor said the malware was detected on a student’s laptop by the ‘sophisticated spyware systems’ at Georgia Institute of Technology. That enabled FBI agents to link it back to Taylor’s unassuming home in north west England.

Christopher Taylor, 60, pictured outside Bolton Crown Court, hacked into hundreds of webcams across the world so he could spy on women undressing and having sex
Taylor’s home in Wigan, Greater Manchester, where police believe he secretly watched 47 women

The investigation found Taylor had deleted thousands of files before his arrest.

When British police raided his home, Taylor – a full-time carer for his wife Wendy – told officers: ‘It’s just what I’ve been meddling with on the computer.

He faced extradition proceedings to face trial in the US for wire fraud and computer fraud, but the request was turned down after a judge in London ruled it would ‘negatively impact’ his ailing wife.

More than seven years after his original arrest, Taylor could be jailed today after he admitted securing unauthorised access to computer material and voyeurism.

Taylor also admitted possession of extreme pornography over obscene images found on his devices.

He lured in his unwitting victims with a phony link he placed on porn sites which, when clicked, would allow him full access to their laptop’s function, Bolton Crown Court heard.

He was found to have…

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How internet-facing webcams could put your organization at risk

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By exploiting webcams and other IoT devices, hackers can spy on private and professional conversations, potentially giving them access to sensitive information, says BitSight.

Image: Peter/Adobe Stock

Imagine a cybercriminal hacking into an internet-facing webcam set up in your organization and spying on a meeting, a manufacturing process or an internal training session. Then imagine what that person could do with the information they obtained. That’s exactly the scenario laid out by cyber risk company BitSight.

For a new report about insecure IoT devices, BitSight discovered that one in 12 organizations with internet-facing webcams or similar devices failed to properly secure them, leaving them vulnerable to video or audio compromise. Specifically, 3% of organizations tracked by BitSight had at least one internet-facing video or audio device. Among those, 9% had at least one device with exposed video or audio feeds, giving someone the ability to directly view those feeds or eavesdrop on conversations.

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Which organizations are most at risk to this hacking?

The organizations analyzed included ones in the hospitality, education, technology and government sectors. Out of these, the education area was at the greatest risk, with one in four using internet-facing webcams and similar devices susceptible to video or audio compromise.

Further, Fortune 1000 companies suffered the greatest exposure, including a Fortune 50 technology subsidiary, a Fortune 100 entertainment company, a Fortune 50 telecommunications company, a Fortune 1000 hospitality company and a Fortune 50 manufacturing company.

Which devices were analyzed in this cyber risk survey?

Most of the devices analyzed by BitSight use the Real-Time Streaming Protocol to communicate over the internet, though some use HTTP and HTTPS protocols. With RTSP, users can send video and audio content and run commands to record, play and pause the feed.

Though many of the devices examined for the report were webcams, the analysis also included network video recorders, smart doorbells and smart vacuums. Some devices were actually set up for security purposes.

Why the devices are at risk of being hacked

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15,000 private webcams left open to snooping, no password required

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Once again concerns are being raised about the sorry state of IoT security, after a security researcher discovered over 15,000 private webcams that have been left wide open for anyone with an internet connection to spy upon.

Read more in my article on the Bitdefender BOX blog.

Graham Cluley