Known hacks for IP CCTV

July 26, 2008 — 585

As more and more CCTV goes onto the internet, the vulnerabilities of the IP CCTV become more of problem.

Below are examples of simple “hacks” to access IP CCTV, through nothing more than Google. Putting the below examples into a Google allows access to many insecure IP CCTV

inurl:”axis-cgi/mjpg”
inurl:/view.shtml
intitle:”Live View / – AXIS
inurl:view/view.shtml
inurl:ViewerFrame?Mode=
inurl:ViewerFrame?Mode=Refresh
inurl:axis-cgi/jpg
inurl:axis-cgi/mjpg (motion-JPEG)
inurl:view/indexFrame.shtml
inurl:view/index.shtml
inurl:view/view.shtml
intitle:”live view” intitle:axis
intitle:liveapplet
allintitle:”Network Camera NetworkCamera”
intitle:axis intitle:”video server”
intitle:liveapplet inurl:LvAppl
intitle:”EvoCam” inurl:”webcam.html”
intitle:”Live NetSnap Cam-Server feed”
intitle:”Live View / – AXIS”
intitle:”Live View / – AXIS 206M”
intitle:”Live View / – AXIS 206W”
intitle:”Live View / – AXIS 210?
inurl:indexFrame.shtml Axis
inurl:”MultiCameraFrame?Mode=Motion”
intitle:start inurl:cgistart
intitle:”WJ-NT104 Main Page”
intitle:snc-z20 inurl:home/
intitle:snc-cs3 inurl:home/
intitle:snc-rz30 inurl:home/
intitle:”sony network camera snc-p1?
intitle:”sony network camera snc-m1?
site:.viewnetcam.com -www.viewnetcam.com
intitle:”Toshiba Network Camera” user login
intitle:”netcam live image”
intitle:”i-Catcher Console – Web Monitor”

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IP CCTV in Germany

July 26, 2008 — 585

Basler IP CCTV cameras are now being distributed throughout German and Austrian regions by Sanyo Video Vertrieb AG.

Basler’s new IP camera series was launched at IFSEC this year.

“In Sanyo Video we have found a first class professional distribution company,” said Hardy Mehl, director of marketing, Basler Components.

“Sanyo Video extends their portfolio with high performance, flexible IP cameras, while Basler can sell their products through an experienced, established partner in the video surveillance market – a beneficial situation not only for both our companies, but also for our customers.”

Original Article

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UAV – from War Zone to Your Home

July 2, 2008 — 585

UAVs – Unmanned Ariel Vehicles, were originally designed for as replacements/support for military aircraft. The famous “predator” drone, has been reported conducting numerous attacks in Iraq, Yemen and war zones around the world .

The UK are now using the same technology to patrol the streets of Britain. These can be used to monitor people without the imposition of putting up new CCTV masts, or the alerting noise of police helicopters. Some are referring to it as the “Friendly Eyes in the Sky”, others, simply more surveillance.

The UK has been trialling a UAV known as “Microdrone MD4-200″ since June 2007 in Liverpool. The German-built Microdrone is tiny compared to the 8.14m Predator mentioned above, at just over 1 metre long, it weighs less than 1 kilo. This means there are no requirements for clearance from the CAA – Civil Aviation Authority, as its regarded as a “toy”.  Its weight and engines mean that its “near-silent”, so the public will not always know its there. But at 55 m, it can still pick out faces from a crowd, or park, or garden.

According the IET - Insitute of Engineering and Technology, police chiefs in the UK expect the UAVs to be rolled out nationally by 2012, when the UAVs will be used most regularly. It is widely rumored that the UAVs will be deployed during the 2012 Olympics as part of the security arrangements. The Herald reported that RAF will be deploying the miltary drones the “Reaper“  during the Olympics.

The Reaper UAVs are more like the Predator than the microdrone, in fact they are a direct descendant of the Predator. The Reaper weighs over 1.6 tonnes, and can carry a massive payload bringing it upto 5 tonnes. It has cameras, thermal imaging and radar, and has a flight time of 16 to 18 hours.

In April The Times reported that Essex and Kent Police Forces were also trialing the systems, though this time they were using systems from BAe.

The microdrones, currently being trialed in the UK, currently have a flying time measured in minutes, where as the fulyl fledged miltary UAVs are 10 to 20 hours.  As a result the government is working on systems that can fly far far longer, ideally  indefinitely. QinetiQ, has already produced Zephyr UAV, which can fly for 18 hours, using solar power to keep it in the air

Despite all this additional monitoring, the ability to put CCTV cameras anywhere at any time,  hover over pirvate houses and gardens, adn spy in houses, surely the probability of the police misusing data is tiny? And just because people have access to CCTV cameras that can be hovered outside people bedrooms, the operators would never watch people for their own voyeristic purposes, would they?

Knowing that the goverment deparments have lost and misused data, and CCTV operators have misused their cameras on several occasions, surely there has been a consulation exercise on the use and deployment of UAVs?  No, of course not.

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No Hats Please: CCTV

June 24, 2008 — 585

According to an article in the Telegraph South Yorkshire police have been encouraging landlords to make their customers take their hats off when they enter pubs.

As Police can effectively prevent a license being renewed at a pub, no doubt the encouragement is being taken very seriously.

A South Yorkshire spokesman stated that “There have been incidents both in pubs and other establishments when it has not been possible to identify offenders captured on CCTV because hats were hiding their faces.”

Perhaps dark glasses should also be banned, or curtains at home? Those net curtains must really hinder the CCTV operators viewing pleasure.

With an increasing number of cases of data misuse, who would blame somebody for wearing a hat in public.

But, as its Yorkshire, the home of the flat cap, there may be some resistance.

Dickie Bird, 75, a test umpire, famed for wearing a flat white cap said: “Asking a Yorkshireman to take off his flat cap – whoever heard of anything so silly.

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Examples of Data Misuse

June 22, 2008 — 585
Below is a small sample of the discovered and reported cases of data misuse within the government

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Security guards turn CCTV cameras onto nearby homes

June 22, 2008 — 585

In July 2007 CCTV operators at the Welsh assembly buildings in Cardiff Bay were caught turning CCTV cameras onto nearby homes and hotels.

This is not the first time CCTV staff have used their cameras for nefarious purposes. Twice in 2005 CCTV operators were involved similar activities. One involved CCTV spying on a woman and another involved operators recording people having sex

Full Article

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CCTV used to record couple having sex

June 22, 2008 — 585

In 2005  NCP CCTV operators were accused of using their CCTV cameras to spy on couples having sex, and then copying the recordings onto DVD.

National Car Parks said three people were initially suspended from their Brighton control room but two were now back at work.

Council CCTV operators also used CCTV cameras for voyeuristic purposes in 2005

Full Article


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RFID used for Tracking

June 11, 2008 — 585

More and more companies are working on technology that is designed to use RFID chips for tracking people and vehicles, sometimes referred to as “assets”.

The UK Government, along with DVLA and IBM are look to use “Electronic Number Plates” to track cars around the UK, and possibly the EU

Below are an example of some of the companies developing this technology and their statements from their websites:

IDENTEC SOLUTIONS is the global leader in wireless tracking and tracing solutions. The Intelligent Long Range® (ILR®) active RFID System can identify, locate, track and communicate with assets at a distance of up to 500 meters to deliver superior business process visibility in dynamic, demanding environments. IDENTEC SOLUTIONS’ technology and products are utilized to help track people and valuable assets in a completely reliable and secure manner.


e-Plate is the leader in Electronic Vehicle Identification (EVI) using active RFID tagging. Why this technology? Because governments across the world are looking to tagging to optimise the use of road space, reduce non-compliance, combat vehicle crime and fight terrorism.

Active technology, uniquely, does the job. To be precise, the 99.98% accurate, secure identification of:

• any vehicle or vehicles (car, bus, truck, trailer, motorcycle)
• individually or in dense traffic
• travelling at any speed or stationary
• in either direction
• in any weather conditions;
. . . when it comes within a distance of up to 100 metres of an e-Plate reader.
EVI Management Group is a privately owned and federally incorporated company operating in Vancouver, British Columbia since 2005 and is the exclusive agency for e-Plate in Canada.

The company seeks to advance the use of electronic vehicle identification in Canada and around the world. We have been privileged to speak to a number of groups including:

* Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators
* Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police
* Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police
* Bureau of Intelligent Transportation Systems and Freight Security

Electronic Vehicle Identification

EVI defines the ability to electronically identify vehicles, either in the specific or the aggregate, at a time and place, using technology.

None of these companies mention any of the issues of privacy on their websites.

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Electronic Number Plates

June 10, 2008 — 585

DVLA is currently trialling/testing the use of Electronic Number Plates within the UK. These tests are starting because the UK law has been adapted to allow for the electronic tags of all cars in the future:

The Vehicles (Crime) Act 2001 introduced a provision to enable the making of regulations specifying additional information to be displayed on or contained in number plates. The provision was deliberately worded so as to allow for the possible use of microchips in number plates. This provision would have to be activated for the use of electronic plates in a live environment.

The electronic number plates could be used across Europe to track vehicles for surveillance and road pricing purposes. Currently the DVLA is erring towards using RFIDs on vehicles.

In April 2006, DVLA’s partner IBM, were commissioned to produce an analysis of consideration for introducing an RFID based system for the purposes of vehicle identification and road pricing. In summary, the analysis concluded the active tag would appear to be the only proven solution to identify a moving vehicle at a reasonable distance in freeflowing traffic

The range of the RFID could be up to 100m, according the DVLA.

The privacy issues in relation to this have not been addressed at all by the DVLA, nor do they appear to have consulted the ICO.

Full DVLA report available here DVLA Electronic Numer Plate Report

Other Articles on the subject are

RFID Vehicle Tagging

Cloning Cars

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Plans to chip all cars?

June 10, 2008 — 585

The UK-based vehicle licence plate manufacturer, Hills Numberplates Ltd, has chosen long-range RFID tags and readers from Identec Solutions to be embedded in licence plates that will automatically and reliably identify vehicles in the UK.

The new e-Plates project uses active (battery powered) RFID tags embedded in the plates to identify vehicles in real time. The result is the ability to reliably identify any vehicle, anywhere, whether stationary or mobile, and – most importantly – in all weather conditions. (Previous visually-based licence plate identification techniques have been hampered by factors such as heavy rain, mist, fog, and even mud or dirt on the plates.)

The e-Plates project has been under development for the past three years at a cost of more than £1 million, and is currently under consideration by a number of administrations. It is hoped that e-Plate will be one of the systems trialled by the UK Government in its forthcoming study of micro-chipped licence plates.

Chipped plates
The plates are the same shape and size as conventional plates, and are permanently fitted to the vehicle in the same way. But each e-Plate contains an embedded tag with a unique, encrypted identification number that is transmitted by the tag for detection by RFID readers. Multiple tags can be read simultaneously by a single reader at speeds of up to 320km per hour (200mph), up to 100 metres (300 feet) away.

The reader network, which includes fixed location readers (for use on the roadside) and portable readers (for use in surveillance vehicles and handheld devices), sends the unique identifier in real time to a central system where it is matched with the corresponding vehicle data such as registration number, owner details, make, model, colour, and tax/insurance renewal dates.

Identities secured
A key benefit of the e-Plate is that the tag provides an encrypted and secure ID code which is registered in the UK Ministry of Transport’s vehicle database. This code prevents tampering, cloning, or other forms of fraud that can currently happen with camera-based systems. Additionally, the e-Plate is designed to shatter if anyone tries to remove or otherwise tamper with it, and the tag can be programmed to transmit a warning if any attempt is made to dislodge the plate.

Surveillance applications
The system is expected to be used to identify vehicles for applications such as security, access control, electronic payment, tracking and processing, traffic management, and customer service. Commercial applications could include car dealerships, rental companies, insurance companies, fleet operators, and parking garages. In the public sector, the main applications would include enforcement (compliance with road tax, insurance, and mechanical checks), access control to restricted areas, combating vehicle theft and associated crime, and traffic flow counting and modelling.

According to Richard Taffinder, operations director for Hills Numberplates, the e-Plates were developed to provide companies and public authorities with a more reliable way to positively identify and capture information on a vehicle.

http://www.rfidnews.org/news/2004/06/10/rfidenabled-license-plates-to-identify-uk-vehicles/

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