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Hackers Use CCTV Cameras to Steal Data
Hackers can steal data from networks using CCTV cameras and infrared beams, researchers have warned.
11:33 20 October 2017
Researchers from Ben-Guiron University have found that hackers can hijack CCTV cameras and beaming infrared light to steal data from networks. They can do so by getting malware onto the network where a surveillance camera is connected to. They can then use the malware to access the camera and use its infrared LEDs to transmit encoded data by “turning them on and off or controlling their IR intensity.”
Lead researcher Mordechai Guri said: "Security cameras are unique in that they have 'one leg' inside the organization, connected to the internal networks for security purposes, and ‘the other leg’ outside the organization, aimed specifically at a nearby public space, providing very convenient optical access from various directions and angles,"
The Ben-Gurion team added: "Attackers may leak data through different types of radiation emitted from the computer. Leaking data using electromagnetic radiation has been investigated for more than twenty years. In this method, malware controls the electromagnetic radiation emitted from computer parts, such as LCD screens, communication cables, computer buses, and other components. Other air-gap covert channels are based on sonic and ultrasonic sound and heat emissions."