Once lauded as shaft to raise police accountability , body cameras have been facingincreasing scrutinyfrom privacy advocates , and now one research worker has name them as cybersecurity prison term turkey . Speaking to Wired ahead of a Def Con presentment , Josh Mitchell , a adviser at the security firm Nuix , demonstrated that many body camerasare vulnerable to hacking , making several different incubus scenarios possible : officers themselves could be get over while wearing the cameras , footage could be doctored or delete entirely , and the cameras could be commandeer to spread ransomware or other malicious code throughout police networks .
“ These video recording can be as powerful as something like DNA grounds , but if they ’re not properly protect there ’s the potential that the footage could be modify or replace , ” Mitchell told Wired . “ I can tie in to the cameras , enter , eyeshot culture medium , modify media , make changes to the data file structures . Those are big issues . ”
Mitchell demonstrate vulnerabilities in camera made by Vievu , Patrol Eyes , Fire Cam , Digital Ally , and CeeSc . Cameras from Axon , the declamatory producer in the US , were n’t examined for vulnerabilities , but Vievu was late acquired by Axon .
All five cameras , Mitchell separate Wired , have specific vulnerabilities in how they verify video and software updates . Specifically , they do n’t utilize cryptographic mechanism to corroborate firmware updates or uploaded videos are legitimate . Mitchell found that the photographic camera do n’t protect uploaded footage with digital signatures to ensure it has n’t been manipulated . Without this confirmation , attackers could therefore download , edit , then re - upload footage to cloud storage without a vestige . Mitchell also enounce that the television camera take to the woods firmware without substantiation , meaning a hacker could break the tv camera to malicious code by disguising it as a normal software update .
Hackable body cameras are a potential liability for the entire police department that uses them . Once cyberpunk have compromised camera , they could infect them with malware , give them approach to entire police force networks , Mitchell claim . That allow police open to ransomware attacks , forced lockdown , and worms that delete of import files .
“ These are full - feature calculator walking around on your chest , and they have all of the issues that go along with that , ” Mitchell said . One event that go on reoccurring in his research : a too - easy - to - guess default wifi password , a problem contact near - ubiquity with IoT devices .
Mitchell told Wired that since discovering the vulnerabilities he ’s been in contact with all five companies . Axon said it will patch the vulnerability in Vievu tech . We have reached out to these companies for extra comment and will update if we hear back .
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