Verkada camera breach

Another massive hacking incident shook the world as a group of hackers successfully compromised the security camera systems of Verkada Inc. Verkada Inc is a Silicon Valley startup and the company’s camera security system is used widely from companies to hospitals around the world. The hackers have said that they were able to collect a massive amount of security camera data and have also gained access to live feeds of a hundred thousand cameras. These cameras are set up inside hospitals, police departments, schools, prisons, etc.

The hackers have also exposed a few footages of companies including Tesla and Cloudflare Inc (San Francisco, Austin, London, and New York offices). But, this is not it as they also broke into the camera systems of women’s health clinics and also hacked the camera system of Verkada’s office. The cameras that were hacked also use facial recognition systems to identify people from the live footage. Since the hackers claim to have full footage of Verkada’s every customer, the intended damages cannot be fathomed if it is true.

Verkada camera details of exposed videos

Since the hackers claim to have access to full surveillance footage of Verkada’s customers, a few of them were revealed. Video footage taken by Verkada camera system inside Halifax Heath (Florida-based hospital) shows that a total of eight hospital staffers tackling and pinning a man on his bed (reported by Bloomberg). Another video that was revealed by the hackers was of Tesla warehouse in Shanghai. The video footage showed workers on an assembly line. The hackers have claimed to hack 222 cameras in total within Tesla. The organizations who were exposed in the leaked videos declined to comment immediately.

There was another video from the surveillance footage witnessed by Bloomberg showed a police station in Massachusetts. A police officer was questioning a man in the video. The hackers also got into the camera security system of Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut. There is not a single place that was spared by the hackers, as they also accessed 330 security cameras inside Madison County Jail, Alabama. The hackers were not only able to access live footage but also archived videos (including audio in some cases) in high-resolution quality.

Who hacked into the camera system?

The hacking into the Verkada’s camera system was done by International hackers who wanted to show the world the pervasiveness and ease at which this system can be infiltrated. Tillie Kottmann is one of the hackers who has claimed the responsibility for the hacking incident. Tillie has also previously admitted the hacking into Intel and Nissan Motor. Tillie said some of the major reasons why this chain of hacking surveillance footage has been carried out by the group is mostly out of curiosity and constant fighting for the freedom of information and against intellectual property. Kottmann also mentioned that it is too much fun not to do it.

Apart from taking credit for accessing all camera footage, Kottmann also mentioned that they have found the root access on the cameras. This means that they can now execute their own codes in each and every camera. In doing so, this will further help them to hack into the broader Verkada network and use the cameras as a platform to launch similar hacks in the future. Kottmann also mentioned that “Obtaining this degree of access to the camera didn’t require any additional hacking, as it was a built-in feature.” (Bloomberg)

A group of hackers got into the network of Verkada’s camera system as they found an exposed user name and password information on the internet. The information was of an administrator account and after Bloomberg contacted Verkada regarding this, the hackers lost all video footage of both live and archive data.

The action was taken against hacking

In the light of the information regarding the camera system comprising, a Verkada spokesperson said that “We have disabled all internal administrator accounts to prevent any unauthorized access.” The company also mentioned that both the company’s internal security team as well as external security agency have started investigating this matter. They have also contacted law enforcement.

The controversial fact about this entire hacking incident is someone or the company has been careless enough that such sensitive information was lurking freely on the internet. Anyone can get into the surveillance system if they have a correct user name and password, but how easily are this information leaked is the main question. This will hurt the trust build between Verkada and its customers.