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:
- Cyber attack on city of Wichita limited to police records, internal investigation finds
September 19, 2024
A ransomware attack that crippled the city of Wichita’s network for more than a month starting in May was limited to a Wichita Police Department records system, city officials said Wednesday. That means the Russian hacker group — LockBit — that claimed credit for the attack did not access bank card numbers, social security numbers or ...
- Court-Authorized Operation Disrupts Worldwide Botnet Used by People’s Republic of China State-Sponsored Hackers
September 18, 2024
The Justice Department today announced a court-authorized law enforcement operation that disrupted a botnet consisting of more than 200,000 consumer devices in the United States and worldwide. As described in court documents unsealed in the Western District of Pennsylvania, the botnet devices were infected by People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored hackers working for Integrity ...
- AT&T to pay $13 million to settle FCC probe over cloud data breach
September 17, 2024
AT&T has agreed to pay $13 million to settle a federal investigation into whether the mobile phone service provider failed to protect customer information in connection with a data breach last year, the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday. The FCC’s probe focused on how AT&T’s privacy, cybersecurity and vendor management practices may have played a role ...
- TikTok just had the most important two hours of its life
September 16, 2024
Who really controls TikTok’s magical algorithm — the US-based company that runs the app or its Chinese parent, ByteDance? That’s the question that bedeviled a trio of federal judges on Monday charged with deciding whether to allow the implementation of a law that could ultimately result in TikTok being banned for all Americans. After more than ...
- Facebook, X rush to delete Trump attacker Ryan Wesley Routh from social media
September 15, 2024
Social media companies including Meta’s Facebook and Elon Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter) are rushing to delete the pages associated with Ryan Wesley Routh from their platforms. While X has removed Routh’s profile from its platform, Facebook has removed all the posts he shared on his profile. Meta has not deleted Routh’s profile from Facebook yet. LinkedIn ...
- Chinese-made cargo equipment enables cyber, espionage risks in US ports
September 12, 2024
A year-long probe led by GOP members of two House panels found that numerous seaports around the U.S. contain technology originating from Chinese manufacturers that could enable espionage and sabotage. The study conducted by lawmakers and staff on the House Homeland Security Committee and Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party said that it was an ...
