Dec 21 – On Tuesday, after a hack affecting over 400,000 home security cameras, South Korean police arrested a man. The individual had not only accessed the camera footage, but had also attempted to sell it online, providing personal visual data to nefarious persons in nations around the world.
What happened
The man deployed his knowledge of IT and cyber security to hack into a total of 404,847 cameras in 638 apartment complexes across South Korea. The intrusions took place between August and November of 2021.
Automated hack program
Police say that the perpetrator managed to create an automatic hacking program. With said program, the individual used 10 wireless routers to hack into apartment complex servers, enabling him to access the cameras of the control pads, which were mounted to the walls of 404,847 apartments.
Selling the footage
The individual then attempted to sell the footage to online buyers. Whether or not the individual was successful in selling the footage to a third-party remains to be determined.
Police revealed that the arrested man had previously been convicted of hacking and distributing denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. While the accused stated that he committed such crimes to demonstrate the lackluster security around cameras, police dispute the claim.
Further information
The Korean Internet & Security Agency is working to create measures and guidelines that help prevent these types of crimes in the future. Authorities also encouraged security camera owners to adhere to cyber security best practices, and encouraged the public to reset Wi-Fi passwords and to avoid public wireless networks.
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