Hackers Got Inside a Flock Camera. Its Data Shows How the System Really Works

Hackers ripped down a Flock camera above a roadway, made a near-complete copy of the data stored inside it, and shared the files with journalists, revealing in new detail how exactly Flock Safety’s cameras track the movements of both vehicles and people. The hackers tell 404 Media and WIRED they are also publishing details on how they managed to obtain the software, in the hopes that other people may copy them.

The breach provides an unprecedented look inside a system that Flock has described as protected by on-device encryption. The hackers were able to copy the camera’s storage and recover an encryption key stored on the device, which unlocked videos of thousands of vehicle detections. The hackers shared the material with 404 Media and the transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets, which shared the data with WIRED. 404 Media and WIRED then analyzed those files as part of a joint investigation.

Hackers Got Inside a Flock Camera. Its Data Shows How the System Really Works
 
The article says police departments can search camera records across a national network. That raises a serious concern: what safeguards prevent an officer from using that access for personal reasons, such as stalking someone? Should every search require a documented case number and leave an audit trail? What safeguards would you want in place?
 
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