Iran hacks security cameras to gain intel on Israel – media

Iran is hijacking home security cameras to obtain knowledge of Israel’s movements in real-time, a report from Bloomberg reveals.

Following the recent conflict between Iran and Israel, one country is leveraging vulnerabilities in home security cameras to gain knowledge of its adversary.

A cybersecurity official in Israel went on public radio, warning the population of Iran’s actions.

“We know that in the past two or three days, the Iranians have been trying to connect to cameras to understand what happened and where their missiles hit to improve their precision,” said Refael Franco, the previous deputy director general of the Israel National Cyber Directorate.

A representative from the Israel National Cyber Directorate echoed Franco’s statement, saying that security cameras connected to the internet were a major target for Iran when it comes to planning its next attack.

Bloomberg, which first reported the story, stated that consumers usually prioritize price over security features when buying home security cameras.

Following the Hamas attack, the Israeli government urged those who have home security cameras to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) and strengthen their overall security posture.

Furthermore, security cameras installed in agricultural areas to prevent theft have been accidentally giving away the position of soldiers along the Gaza security fence, Bloomberg said.

Security cameras have been used as a key tool for various conflicts around the globe.

For example, the conflict between Israel and Hamas saw a spike in security camera-related hacks. Hamas hacked into Israeli security cameras just before the October 7th attack.

Similarly, these tactics have been used in the Russia-Ukraine war, where Russia likely used security camera footage from key locations, including border crossings, military areas, and railway stations.

Consumers are more and more likely to purchase private security cameras to protect themselves and their property.

However, this comes at a price, as Bloomberg writes, due to cheap security cameras being relatively easy to hack.

Many security cameras, especially the cheap ones that consumers tend to be drawn to, do not have the appropriate security settings that high-end cybersecurity-focused security cameras have.

Home security cameras may only come with a default password, which may be as simple as 1234, which is pretty easy to crack in a brute-force attack.

Thousands of cameras stream online without passwords or other protections, and can be accessed by anyone, according to a report by BitSight, an American cybersecurity ratings company.

Attackers need only the right IP address and browser to spy on homes and even large companies. Finding IPs is easy because IoT search engines constantly probe the internet and flag all the exposed services.

Security experts have previously warned that security ​​cameras that are supposed to protect users from danger are actually putting users at risk.