On 12th January 70% of CCTV cameras in Washington DC were hacked with ransomware, that was just eight days before President Trump’s inauguration on 20th January. Now, authorities in London, UK have arrested two hackers on suspicion of hacking those CCTV cameras.
The arrest took place on 20th January but the news about their detention has only been shared with media now. According to The Sun, one of the arrested hackers is a Swedish woman and other a British man.
The hacking feat took the city by shock since it posed a massive security threat considering the importance of the presidential inauguration and the possibility of terrorist attacks on the event. It must be noted that the hackers were able to hack 123 of the total 187 network video recorders installed inside the CCTV devices. The cameras could not record anything for more than 48 hours
The hackers also demanded ransom money which was rejected by the DC Police but it forced a major reinstallation spree across the city. At the time of publishing this article, the CCTV system in the city was restored.
Ransomware is now among the most used malware attack by hackers. From smart TV, hotel doors locks, hard drives, railway’ fare system, health service system or Android devices nothing is secure from this threat. However, when it comes to CCTV camera systems in the United States it is not surprising that hackers sitting miles away were able to take over security cameras operated by world renowned police department. There are thousands of unprotected CCTV cameras vulnerable to hackers.
It is unclear what will be the fate of these two hackers since another British hacker Lauri Love is fighting his extradition to the United States for hacking government websites and computers.
Image Source: Flickr/EFF Photos
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