A hacker group tore down a Flock camera and was able to retrieve data on thousands of vehicles.
The group, known as “stegan0gram,” shared its methods and the data with media outlets, as reported Wednesday, “in the hopes that other people may copy [the group].”
Flock’s automated license plate readers use AI to scan license plates and save information about a vehicle, such as make, model, color, and other identifiers like cosmetic damage or bumper stickers.
Flock allows law enforcement officers to access its database without acquiring a warrant. This has raised concerns over potential violations of citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights.
According to Wired, the camera recorded 21 days of activity, photographing approximately 50,200 vehicles, equating to roughly 3,300 vehicles captured per day.
The software was found to be subtle enough to detect an American flag patch located on a motorcyclist’s saddle bag.
“The software running on the camera explicitly detects people, something which is typically overlooked in discussions around Flock cameras. When it spots a person, it records where they appear in the image and how confident it is in the detection,” wrote Wired, though the outlet also states that no facial-recognition capabilities were detected in the software.
“Why just destroy them when we can reverse engineer them and find the secrets of those spying on us?” stated one of the hackers. “We liberated hardware in the field, disarmed them, and proceeded with reverse engineering of the cameras and associated solar equipment.”
When asked about the hacking, a spokesperson for Flock stated that “unauthorized removal and tampering of a Flock camera is illegal.”
“Flock takes security seriously and maintains a public Vulnerability Disclosure Policy for security researchers to report potential vulnerabilities directly to us,” stated the spokesperson. “We received no report through that process, and based on the limited information provided, we do not have enough detail to assess the claims being made.”
“If the individuals identified legitimate vulnerabilities, we encourage them to submit their technical findings through our vulnerability reporting process so our security team can review them and take any appropriate action,” a Flock Safety spokesperson told Texas Scorecard.
The news comes as multiple Texas localities have either rejected, cancelled, or deactivated their Flock contracts or cameras, with cities like Bastrop, El Paso, Elgin, and Wylie among the most recent.
At a recent Leander city council meeting, one resident expressed concern that the camera data would be easily accessible for a skilled hacker.
Following significant local backlash, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a pause on state funding for Flock cameras in late August, though President Donald Trump recently stated that he “sort of liked [Flock cameras] because of law enforcement. But some people don’t. They think it’s an infringement.”
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