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Government United States Security IT

Who Hacked The Washington D.C. Police Surveillance Cameras? 81

Posted by EditorDavid from the see-you-later dept.
An anonymous reader quotes GIzmodo: City officials and the Secret Service have confirmed that just days before the presidential inauguration, police surveillance cameras in Washington, DC were targeted by hackers. Reportedly, 70% of the CCTV storage devices were infected with ransomware. According to the Washington Post, "City officials said ransomware left police cameras unable to record between January 12 and January 15. The cyberattack affected 123 of 187 network video recorders in a closed-circuit TV system for public spaces across the city, the officials said late Friday." A spokesperson for the Secret Service says despite the compromised cameras, the safety of the public or protectees was never jeopardized, and the city's CTO says they resolved the problem without paying the ransom by simply removing all software from the devices and rebooting them.
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Who Hacked The Washington D.C. Police Surveillance Cameras? More

Who Hacked The Washington D.C. Police Surveillance Cameras?

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  • bets (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 28, 2017 @05:40PM (#53756125)

    $5 says it was an employee doing something stupid on a computer inside the network.

  • why are the recorders on the internet (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Or, if they are not, how were they hacked?

  • If the publc and protectees weren't harmed... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gavron ( 1300111 ) on Saturday January 28, 2017 @05:41PM (#53756131)

    ...then clearly they don't need all those cameras.

    E

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It's entirely plausible that the costs of the cameras outweigh the benefits, possibly by a wide margin. But that does not automatically follow from a lack of incident on this occasion. If someone falls asleep at the wheel of their car and manages to not kill themselves or have an accident (definitely happens) then that does not prove that staying awake at the wheel is unnecessary. Again, I'm not arguing that the cameras are worthwhile, just noting that you'd have to be a complete imbecile to feel that their

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sjames ( 1099 )

        It's not just the lack of an incident. They claimed that public safety was not in any way impacted by the loss of the cameras. That includes potential for harm not being increased by their loss.

    • Re:If the publc and protectees weren't harmed... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Hognoxious ( 631665 ) on Saturday January 28, 2017 @06:40PM (#53756349) Homepage Journal

      You're 100% right. It's just like that day I didn't crash my car, so I don't need any of that faggoty insurance. Or when the live wire on my oven didn't come loose and touch the casing, so I didn't need all that commie earthing.

  • Wasted Effort (Score:4, Funny)

    by sunderland56 ( 621843 ) on Saturday January 28, 2017 @05:41PM (#53756135)

    They must have been sorely disappointed; after all that effort of hacking the cameras, they had so few people to watch on them.

  • This is what happens when the head of cyber security knows nothing about the actual practice of the art. Not condemning the current administration, they didn't have control long enough to enable this screwup, but they're on track to let more and worse things happen in the future.

  • It was me. I did it.

  • fail (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Patent Lover ( 779809 ) on Saturday January 28, 2017 @05:56PM (#53756209)
    the CC in CCTV means closed circuit. Clearly that's not the case here.

  • Crap Security (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    So they factory reset them and wiped them... No mention of closing any of the security holes that allowed them to be pwned in the first place. Enjoy the next wave of the attack.

    • They probably changed the root password from GOD to superman or drowssap or something. You know it is solid now- because government learns from its mistakes.

  • Very likely an antifa sympathizer trying to make it harder for the police to capture their violent acts.

  • ... the Russians.

    In 3.. 2.. 1...

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