Flaw Found in Security Cameras Could Allow Hackers to Access Your Feeds
- Posted on February 8, 2012 at 11:28am by
Liz Klimas
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TRENDnet SecurView IP camera.
The security camera purchased for your office or home to help protect your private property and record live happenings could actually be broadcasting footage on the Internet for all to see — if people know how to access it through a recently revealed hack.
PC Mag reports that a coding issue in some TRENDnet cameras, which the company admited on Tuesday, allows hackers to access a feed to the camera without the required password:
While the video feed was nominally password-protected, the [Console Cowboys] blogger found that appending a specific code to the camera’s IP address bypassed the password requirement, throwing the video feed wide open.
The Console Cowboys post offers detailed instructions for finding and hacking Trendnet cameras.
To confirm the security issue was real, PC Mag followed the instructions and was able to find two cameras showing video feeds: one of an office in Nashville and the other of a thermometer in Minneapolis.
View seen by PC Mag into office.
SlashGear has more on what the hack — revealed in January — has caught footage of:
Offices, children’s bedrooms, and even someone’s bathroom were viewable among the list of video feeds exposed. A list of 679 web addresses to exposed video feeds were posted to a message board within two days with more listings revealed that were also associated with Google Maps locations.
One of the images scene in the security camera hack. (Photo: Console Cowboys)
Another image seen live through the security camera flaw. (Photo: Console Cowboys)
TRENDnet has said that it published updated firmware for affected cameras to fix the flaw. If you have a TRENDnet SecurView IP camera, see if it is among those on the list here.
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TRENDnet
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 6:28pmTRENDnet has posted the resolution to the security breach on their IP cameras. You can check information on affected TRENDnet IP cameras at: http://www.trendnet.com/press/view.asp?id=1958. You can download critical firmware along with detailed update instructions for the affected TRENDnet IP cameras at http://www.trendnet.com/downloads/ .
Report Post »jlumi
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 8:20pmIf you want a safe secure system:
Report Post »Don’t use web cams or wireless ones, use regular wire cameras, not internet ones, regular video (and yes you can still buy them).
If you have to have web access, get a frame grabber, connect the cameras to it then get software to put them securely on the web. Yes, there is still a vunerability in that but these programs are very secure and more importantly, you can turn them off and still monitor the cameras in your home or send the feed to a DVR.
SageInWaiting
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 6:24pmI have a web cam; it spends most of its times unplugged and stashed for a reason. Security cams: what are you using it for? If it‘s for who’s at the door, I‘m less concerned than if it’s placing in the living area to monitor the cleaning lady or babysitter. Regardless – HARDWIRE all the way. The WiFi and Bluetooth transmitters are turned off on my laptop with the wired mouse, as is my 1Gb “wireless” router’s radio… I used to work where the government folks would check our security perimeter by parking their van in the lot to see what information they could glean from the video monitors and dot matrix pin printers; why make their jobs easy?
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 1:26pmyeah, our baby monitor picks up our neighbors (Same brand) baby monitor video… you just got to remember that it’s not just you who can view ANY non encrypted video footage…
and now, if you encrypt anything, internet, mail, video, etc… you are labeled a terrorist…
so.. you have no right to privacy and sickos are free to spy on and fap to your family. i hope you enjoy the police state you have created via supporting illegal wars and ignoring the constitution.
Keep trading freedom for security when the best defense is a well armed public…
Report Post »tomloy
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 12:43pmI’ll have to remember to cover the lens when I buy one.
Report Post »TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 12:19pmBasement dwelling tech nerds with too much time on their hands obviously get a kick out of hacking into whatever. Not to mention the harder-core criminals on-line stealing your identity and making everyone’s life difficult in the long run… and costlier.
Report Post »Bible Quotin' Science Fearin' Conservative American
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 1:25pmCriminals aren’t the only ones stealing your info. Google, Facebook and pretty much everyone else collects detailed personal info on you, packages it into profiles and sells profiles in bulk to advertising agencies. And it’s legal.
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 4:57pmYes, and I am surprised to find people who don’t know that. How do they think the company makes money, or did they think FaceBook and Google were put out there for their benefit?
Report Post »geminimoon
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 9:56pmDon‘t forget that it’s those “Basement dwelling tech nerds with too much time on their hands” that have given you the technology to begin with. It’s more the big businesses, with Government approval, that have found ways to exploit all the info they do, all in the name of PROFIT!!
Report Post »TH30PH1LUS
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 12:18pmAll technologies must pass through government agencies before being sold to the American public. All of them have “backdoor” access to Big Brother. Now you know.
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 11:58amDUH!!!!
You‘re encoding live audio and video in a format that is not hard to decrypt if it’s encrypted at all, and you’re broadcasting it to the ether! What part of this equation is hard to understand?
HARDLINES, people! HARDLINES! Wire everything together. No radio transmissions!
Report Post »moreteaplease
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 2:18pmI’ll second that.
If it goes through the air, then it can be snagged. Encryption? To me that’s a false sense of security anymore because somebody out there can and will eventually break it.
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 4:39pmWell, consumer level encryption, yeah, but it‘s still hard if you’re the government trying to gather evidence against an accused mortgage fraudster. :-)
Report Post »Nemo13
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 11:51amA security camera is not for security. It is obviously someone who has put it there for ‘guests’. Sicko alert!
Report Post »capecod1
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 11:39amThis is not a technical flaw…it is intentional so the eye in the sky can keep tabs on the private lives of Americans. Cameras on streets can monitor movement outside, but utilizing the technology that people willingly install is just what big brotha needs to watch our families. Creepy if you ask me.
Report Post »JP4JOY
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 11:35amIf it transmits it can and probably will be hacked.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 12:12pmNo kidding. The Russians (or somebody) figured out how to hack our drones, this is childsplay in comparison.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 11:35amObviously… a HomeLandSecurity design!
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 11:33amIt’s intersting that someone feels the need for a security camera in their bathroom. Worried about Mr. Whipple squeezing the Charmin?
Report Post »objectivetruth
Posted on February 8, 2012 at 3:34pmCute and funny comment.Actually the bathroom is one of the most dangerous rooms in the house for a violent individual to corner someone in.All the porcelin tiles and fixtures can be easily and readily be used as weapons.Whatever you do, if ever confronted with a violent individual in your home, I repeat don’t attempt to hide in the bathroom.I know you probaly think I’m being flippitant, I’m not.I’m ,excuse the pun, dead serious.
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