A recent warning from the U. S. Department of Homeland Security about a vulnerability in cameras made by Chinese manufacturer Hikvision has raised questions about government-sponsored surveillance.
Surveillance cameras used by United States law enforcement agencies, military bases and even ordinary consumers are produced by a Chinese manufacturer that is in part owned by the Chinese government, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology produces the surveillance cameras that can be found hanging about streets and important infrastructure throughout the U. S. The Chinese government owns a 42 percent share of the company, raising concerns about the possibility the company’s products could be used to spy on Americans.
Among some of the places cameras from Hikvision were found, the Wall Street Journal reported the Chinese company’s products are perched atop street lights in Memphis, Tennessee to allow police to monitor criminal activity, located around a U. S. Army base in Missouri and were at one point used to watch the U. S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Hikvision is the largest surveillance camera producer in the world, thanks in part to its role as the primary provider of cameras for China’s domestic surveillance programs. Its business has only grown with widespread adoption of Hikvision products by other nations including the U. S. Its cameras have also been used in French airports, a port in Ireland and several sites in Brazil and Iran.
The rapid rise of the company as the primary provider of surveillance equipment is now drawing questions, in part thanks to a recent cybersecurity issue identified by the U. S Department of Homeland security earlier this year.
According to the DHS, some cameras manufactured by Hikvision contained a security vulnerability that made the devices exploitable by hackers. The DHS flagged the flaw and assigned it the worst security rating available.
