China Spy-cams

Started by Hoofer, January 12, 2018, 04:59:42 PM

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Hoofer

https://www.wsj.com/articles/army-rips-out-chinese-made-surveillance-cameras-overlooking-u-s-base-1515753001
QuoteFort Leonard Wood, an Army base in Missouri's Ozarks, replaced five cameras on the base branded and made by Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. , said Col. Christopher Beck, the base's chief of staff. He said officials at the base acted after reading media reports about the company.

"We never believed [the cameras] were a security risk. They were always on a closed network," Col. Beck said. The decision to replace the cameras was meant to "remove any negative perception" surrounding them following media reports, he added, without elaborating.

A Wall Street Journal article in November highlighted the prevalence in the U.S. of devices made by Hikvision, the world's largest maker of surveillance cameras, which is 42% owned by the Chinese government. The Journal reported that some security-system vendors in the U.S. refuse to carry Hikvision cameras or place restrictions on their purchase, concerned they could be used by Beijing to spy on Americans.

Note... I use them, and noticed the first thing they do when powered up, either the cameras or the NVR - it tries to phone home.  Darn right mine are air-gapped.

Quote"You have a company here, Hikvision, in which the Chinese government has a major controlling interest, making a significant portion of the world's surveillance cameras," he said. "It is a significant concern that Beijing could use these cameras to essentially spy on us," he added, though he didn't offer evidence this is happening.

Security vulnerabilities in Hikvision's cameras were highlighted last year in a notice issued by the Department of Homeland Security, which said some of its devices were easily exploitable by outside hackers.

Buyer beware, who knows what's written into that software.

QuoteIn 2016, hackers took control of hundreds of thousands of cameras, including many made by a Chinese rival of Hikvision, to launch a huge "denial of service" attack that security experts said made sites run by Amazon.com Inc., PayPal Inc. and Twitter Inc. unavailable for hours.

There you go - they've been hacked into before, it'll happen again.
All animals are created equal; Some just take longer to cook.   Survival is keeping an eye on those around you...