Hacking Security Cameras Becomes Standard Military Tactic in Modern Warfare
Key Takeaways
- ▸Iran-linked hackers attempted hundreds of attacks on consumer security cameras across the Middle East, timed to missile strikes and military operations
- ▸Multiple nations including Israel, Russia, and Ukraine have adopted camera-hacking as standard military reconnaissance practice
- ▸Exploited vulnerabilities in Hikvision and Dahua cameras date back years and remain unpatched due to poor consumer security practices
Summary
Security firm Check Point has released research revealing that state-sponsored hackers are systematically targeting consumer-grade security cameras as a military reconnaissance tool. The research documents hundreds of hacking attempts against Hikvision and Dahua cameras across the Middle East, many timed to coincide with Iran's missile and drone strikes on Israel, Qatar, and Cyprus. Check Point attributes these intrusions to hacker groups previously linked to Iranian intelligence, suggesting Iran's military is using hijacked civilian surveillance cameras to identify targets, plan strikes, and assess damage.
This tactic has become widespread across multiple conflict zones. The Financial Times reported that Israeli military forces, working with the CIA, accessed nearly all traffic cameras in Tehran to support targeting operations, including the strike that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In Ukraine, both Russian and Ukrainian forces have been exploiting compromised cameras for years—Russia to target strikes and monitor troop movements, while Ukraine uses hijacked Russian cameras for counter-surveillance.
The vulnerabilities being exploited are neither new nor sophisticated. Check Point identified five distinct security flaws in popular camera brands, some dating back to 2017, that have been patched but remain exploitable because device owners rarely install updates. The attacks targeted networks across Bahrain, Cyprus, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, the UAE, and particularly Israel, where Check Point observed hundreds of intrusion attempts. According to Sergey Shykevich, Check Point's threat intelligence lead, hacking cameras has become "part of the playbook of military activity" because it provides high-resolution surveillance without expensive military infrastructure like satellites. The persistence of unpatched vulnerabilities in internet-connected devices continues to create exploitable opportunities for military intelligence operations worldwide.
- Hijacked civilian cameras provide military forces with cost-effective, high-resolution surveillance comparable to or better than satellite imagery
