It may seem paradoxical, but devices designed to provide security, such as surveillance cameras and baby monitors, can themselves become an entry point for those seeking to undermine it.
The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) has warned citizens that cybercriminals are actively compromising IP cameras and using them for malicious purposes ranging from distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to spying on critical infrastructure.
According to the Belgian agency, these devices make it easier for cybercriminals to gain access to corporate networks.
“A compromised IP camera can be used as an entry point to infiltrate a corporate network. Since these cameras often have weak security features, some cybercriminals use them to gain initial access to the network and then attack internal devices”, the CCB explains.
This is not a new problem. Last month, cybersecurity firm Hunt.io discovered that more than 14,000 Dahua cameras in Ukraine and Russia had been hacked and used to steal data. The operation was dubbed ‘CameraSwarm’.
The problem is clear: connected cameras often run outdated, unpatched software or have few security safeguards, leaving significant gaps that cybercriminals can exploit.
How to protect IP cameras
The Belgian cybersecurity agency advises users to ensure that their cameras have all available security patches installed or replace them once they reach the end of their service life.
It also recommends changing default passwords as soon as possible and disabling unnecessary internet access and remote administration services, such as FTP and UPnP. Users should also enable multifactor authentication (MFA) and place cameras on a separate network or VLAN, such as a guest Wi-Fi network.
For organisations, the CCB also recommends improving monitoring and detection capabilities to identify any suspicious activity involving these devices and ensure a rapid response in the event of an intrusion.
