An investigation by IPVM found several sales offers for nude videos on the platform Telegram, including cameras labeled for family homes, medical offices, salons, locker rooms, a strip club and other places.
A published report says hackers gained access to Hikvision cameras and used the company’s mobile app to distribute pornography on social media.
An investigation by IPVM found several sales offers for nude videos on the platform Telegram.
The offerings included cameras labeled for family homes, medical offices, salons, locker rooms, a strip club and other places. IPVM said it contacted the FBI once it learned about the alleged hacking.
Telegram has since eliminated 7 channels that were flagged by IPVM for the illicit activity.
“This is the first case we have found of video surveillance cameras being exploited systematically in a criminal pornographic commercial enterprise, raising grave concerns about what to do about the vast number of vulnerable Hikvision and other cameras on the Internet,” IPVM said in its report.
The use of Hikvision’s current Hik-Connect app to distribute adds “even graver concern,” IPVM said, because the app is cloud controlled by Hikvision itself.
In a statement to SecurityInfoWatch.com, Hikvision said it received an email from IPVM alleging that criminals had used its cameras to record “unconscionable things.”
“Our lawyers immediately reported the allegations to the U.S. Department of Justice, multiple offices of the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” the company said. “We are doing everything we can to help. Additionally, we regularly upgrade our software as part of our ongoing commitment to delivering the safest and most reliable products.”
In an additional response published in IPVM’s story, Hikvision said it didn’t know anything about the potential crimes and the email was the first they had heard of the matter.
As it has in the past, Hikvision accused IPVM of trying to damage its business and criticized the media outlet for seeking comment on the story before alerting authorities to what was allegedly found.
