Unapproved Wireless Cameras

Inexpensive wireless cameras are great for security when your security department installs them. However, if someone else installs them, then they can be used to plan security breaches. Thus, it is imperative for you to know every camera operating in your facility and whether it works for your security team or someone else’s. To learn more about finding the unapproved wireless cameras using Wi-Fi, cellular and other RF protocols operating in your environment read our Bastille data sheets or request a Bastille demo.

Key Takeaways

• Cheap wireless cameras can be placed covertly to collect intelligence on people and movement
• Each camera is also a small internet-connected computer with its own software vulnerabilities, as the Mirai botnet showed
• A compromised camera can be co-opted into a botnet or other malicious activity on nearby networks
• Monitoring the airspace lets you classify and locate cameras to decide whether they are authorized or need removal

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING] Hello. My name is Balint Seeber, and I'm the director of vulnerability research at Bastille. I'd like to talk to you about wireless-enabled video cameras, or surveillance cameras. And cameras are interesting for two reasons, one is that they can be compact and cheap, and allow you to actually collect intelligence about movements and various personnel within the company. And the other thing is that they actually themselves are a small computer that are often connected to the internet.

So if you have this small computer that has inherent vulnerabilities in the software stack, as we've seen very, very clearly with the Mirai botnet, you can actually hack that and co-opt the camera to, instead of surveilling and recording and streaming video, say, participate in another botnet, or perform some other malicious activity on the network or networks that may be in the vicinity. So these two are potential attack vectors or potential threats.

It's very important to maintain a close eye on the airspace to see what wireless devices come up, and actually classify and find these particular cameras. Once you've been able to identify them and localize them, you can determine if they're legitimate, if your organization uses them, or if they're unauthorized. And then you can actually find them and take them down. Thanks very much for listening. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our website. [MUSIC PLAYING] PLAYING]