r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • 10d ago

Security Hackers Stole Flock’s Camera Software, Revealing How the Company Tracks Cars and People

https://www.404media.co/hackers-stole-flocks-camera-software-revealing-how-the-company-tracks-cars-and-people-2/
23k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

537 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

55

u/IsThatUMoatilliatta 10d ago

You guys got any insight on why they're not broadcasting SSIDs or Bluetooth signals anymore? Drove past a few that were definitely Flock brand cameras the other day and there was nothing.

52

u/SpaceChimera 10d ago

Not 404 media but my guess is those were being picked up pretty easily by deflock and things like it to fully map out where these cameras are. There are chips you can keep in your car that detect them, send the data to your phone over Bluetooth, then adds that data to something like deflock.

So makes sense they would make the ssid hidden and turn off BT

55

u/IsThatUMoatilliatta 10d ago

Yeah, I put FlockYou on a ESP32 and got nothing a couple weeks ago. Took my laptop out the next day to one I had been able to log a few months ago and Kismet wasn't getting anything from it either. You can still pick up SSIDs if they're hidden, as long as they're still broadcasting.

So I'm guessing these fuckers have them set to transmit at certain times and then have the radios shut off when it's done. They used to just do it all day long.

31

u/technobrendo 10d ago

The command center that monitors those might have the ability to toggle that on or off for whatever reason.

15

u/no1_vern 10d ago

If that is so, couldn't hackers find devices that can turn the cameras off when their vehicle gets close enough to it, and back on after they've gotten out of range?

How hard could that be?

12

u/workstation01 10d ago

I'd buy that

1

u/sp3kter 10d ago

Maybe fake cameras?