Hackers have hacked Verkada, an American company that develops monitoring and facial recognition technologies, and gained access to live videos of thousands of cameras around the world.
The hack shows the astonishing extent that cameras that support facial recognition technology have reached in normal workplaces, bars, parking lots, schools, stores and more.
One of the people involved in the hack told Reuters that a small group of hackers viewed live and archived surveillance footage from hundreds of companies, including Tesla Inc., by accessing system administrator accounts at camera maker Vercada over the two days. the last two.
Swiss software developer Tele Kottmann, who is best known for her efforts to find vulnerabilities in mobile apps and other systems, shared screenshots on Twitter that she says are from inside Tesla's California warehouse and Alabama prison.
By sharing this information, Cotman said, hackers sought to draw attention to the surveillance policy that is so prevalent these days, after gaining access to Vercada's online tools this week.
Vercada acknowledged the intrusion, noting that it disabled all login admin accounts that have the power to prevent unauthorized access, and said that "our internal security team and the external security company are investigating the scale and scope of this issue, and we have notified law enforcement" and customers. .
Cotman said Vercada cut off hackers' access to the cameras hours before Bloomberg reported the breach on Tuesday.
It added that the hacking group could have used its control of the camera equipment to gain access to other parts of the company's networks at Tesla and software makers Cloudflare and Okta.
Cloudflare said its security measures are designed to prevent a small leak from becoming a broader intrusion, stressing that customer data has not been affected.
The list of Vercada user accounts, provided by the hacking group and seen by Reuters, includes thousands of organizations, including gym chain Bay Club and transportation technology startup Virgin Hyperloop.
Vercada says on its website that it has more than 5,200 clients, including cities, colleges and hotels. This spread of its cameras is due to its association with a program to search for specific people or items, and users can access the feeds of these cameras remotely via cloud technologies.
Vercada came under scrutiny last year after Vice reported that some employees used the company's cameras and facial recognition technology to capture and photograph female colleagues.