Flock Safety’s cameras are automated license plate readers (ALPRs) designed to help police find stolen cars or wanted suspects.
A joint investigation by 404 Media and WIRED, based on data recovered from a physically removed Flock camera, found that its on-device software explicitly detects people as well as vehicles, bicycles, and license plates.
Separately, Washington DC’s police union says the Metropolitan Police Department used Flock data to track officers under Internal Affairs investigation without their knowledge.
Together, these reports illustrate a privacy problem: A network built to record the movements of vehicles can readily be used to follow almost anyone. The latest reporting adds an important technical detail to that debate.
Read more…
Source: MalwareBytes Labs
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- WikiLeaks’ latest release of CIA cyber tools could blow cover on agency hacking operations
April 1, 2017
WikiLeaks’ latest disclosure of CIA cyber tools reveals a technique used by the agency to hide its digital tracks, potentially blowing the cover on current and past hacking operations aimed at gathering intelligence on terrorists and other foreign targets. The release on Friday of the CIA’s “Marble Framework” comes less than a month after the anti-secrecy ...
- New Mirai Variant Carries Out 54-Hour DDoS Attacks
March 30, 2017
A variant of the Mirai malware pummeled a U.S. college last month with a marathon 54-hour long attack. Researchers say this latest Mirai variant is a more potent version of the notorious Mirai malware that made headlines in October, targeting DNS provider Dyn and the Krebs on Security website. The IoT botnet behind the DDoS attacks ...
- The WikiLeaks Hacking Dump Exposed a Big Disconnect Over Cyber Security
March 29, 2017
When WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange disclosed earlier this month that his anti-secrecy group had obtained CIA tools for hacking into technology products made by U.S. companies, security engineers at Cisco Systems swung into action. The WikiLeaks documents described how the Central Intelligence Agency had learned more than a year ago how to exploit flaws in Cisco’s ...
- Germany Fought Off Two Fancy Bear Cyber Attacks in 2016
March 27, 2017
Fears about Russian involvement in European elections, especially after last year’s US election, aren’t exactly unfounded or born out of paranoia. In fact, Germany says it fended off two cyber attacks coming from the same cybercriminals that targeted Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Arne Schoenbohm, a top German official, told Reuters they managed to fight off two attacks ...
- US Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Milestone
March 25, 2017
Last week the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the successful completion of the 100th iteration of the Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity training on defending systems used across the critical infrastructure sectors. Since April 2007, over 4,000 cybersecurity professionals have participated in the advanced course. These professionals represent all ...
- Senators reintroduce a bill to improve cybersecurity in cars
March 23, 2017
Senators Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have reintroduced the Security and Privacy in Your Car (SPY Car) Act of 2017. They first introduced the bill, along with a similar bill for aircraft, during the last session. The SPY Car Act places the onus for automotive cybersecurity and privacy standards on the shoulders ...