IS your camera hacked ? Insecam is hosting feeds of all unsecure security cameras across the world
“Sometimes administrator (possible you too) forgets to change default password like ‘admin:admin’ or ‘admin:12345’ on security surveillance system, online camera or DVR. Such online cameras are available for all internet users. “This is the greeting that welcomes users to Insecam. A site which is dedicated to track down security cameras that can be easily accessed and display their feed on the world wide web for everyone to see.
Laziness becomes weapon
The reason why so many security cameras have been easily hacked into is that people often forget to change their default passwords after setting them up. When the number of cameras under your control are huge in number, people tend to be lenient and this leniency has been severely exploited. Nearly 1000 security camera feeds from around Australia, including eight feeds and 46 cameras in the ACT region, can be watched online at the website Insecam, which features tens of thousands of cameras from around the world. Among the ACT security cameras which can be viewed online are a number of shopping centres, the backroom of a chemist and a residential driveway. The cameras’ longitude and latitude has been posted along with the live feed, as well the login and password which are often “admin” or “12345”.
Expert Opinion
University of Canberra Centre of Internet Safety director Nigel Phair said  “For the average man on the streets there’s security cameras everywhere and if we want the general population to accept we require security cameras to have safer amenities generally, we’re not going to do it by having them wonder who has access to this camera,” Mr Phair said.
UNSW’s Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre co-convenor David Vaile said people should think twice before using internet-connected security devices. “This is a great illustration of the illusion of security coming from surveillance and in fact you’re getting the opposite, you’re getting increase risk of unwanted and possibly quite hostile misuse of your information,” he said.
Such hacks into systems are expected to become more and more common as security agencies begin to use cameras to keep watch. It will be interesting to know how many of the administrators of these cameras even know that they have been compromised. This is a wake up call for security agencies. Just keeping watch on others isn’t enough. You need to ensure that someone else isn’t watching you too.
You can check the feeds of hacked security cameras on Insecam
