SBU: Russians hack CCTV cameras on streets of Ukrainian cities and use them to adjust fire
In particular, the cameras are made by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua, which are vulnerable to malware
"Radio Liberty has published an extensive investigation into how Chinese surveillance cameras installed by both local residents and authorities "helped" Russian troops spy on Ukraine's critical infrastructure and army operations.
In particular, two hacked cameras installed on the walls of residential buildings and designed to monitor the adjacent territory were used to monitor the air defence system during the missile attack on Kyiv on 2 January 2024.
The SBU reported on the discovery and dismantling of the cameras. The service called on citizens to disable online broadcasts from their devices.
According to a Radio Liberty source, one of the cameras was manufactured in 2016 by the Chinese company Hikvision. The report says that since the beginning of the military invasion of Ukraine, about 10,000 cameras have been blocked, which could have been used to adjust enemy fire.
According to Sergiy Denisenko, executive director of CyberLab's Digital Forensics Laboratory, the software of Hikvision cameras is very outdated and has many vulnerabilities. Broadcasts from these cameras are easy to find on the Internet and connect to. It took the company's experts 15 minutes to hack 2015 Hikvision cameras.
Referring to the ImportGenius database, Radio Liberty claims that from 2014 to 2022, more than 875,000 Hikvision cameras and more than 1.1 million cameras manufactured by Dahua were imported into Ukraine.
These brands of cameras are the most popular in the world and at the same time the most questionable in terms of security.
The United States, Taiwan, Australia, and the United Kingdom have even imposed restrictions on the supply of these cameras due to the threat to national security.
In Ukraine, these cameras account for 74% of the total number of video surveillance systems. They are purchased and used, among other things, by local authorities to control the order on the streets.
The administrations of some localities have recently begun to terminate contracts with Hikvision and Dahua, but this is most likely due to the latter's inclusion in the register of "war sponsors": both companies continue to supply their products to Russia even after the invasion began. According to US intelligence, the list of supplies includes dual-use goods.
Background. Earlier, Skhemy wrote that thousands of video cameras with servers in Moscow had been operating in Ukraine for years.
If you have read this article to the end, we hope that means it was useful for you.
We work to ensure that our journalistic and analytical work is of high quality, and we strive to perform it as competently as possible. This also requires financial independence. Support us for only UAH 196 per month.
Become a Mind subscriber for just USD 5 per month and support the development of independent business journalism!
You can unsubscribe at any time in your LIQPAY account or by sending us an email: [email protected]
