this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2026
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Edit: Only 2 of these were actually installed.

...these cameras contain a hardcoded list of Russian phone numbers, which can be used to open a backdoor. An SMS from one of these numbers can open shell and network access.

...the web management portal can be accessed, exposing live streams, by anyone with the camera IP.

Reports also suggest that pressure from the opposition political party in Slovakia led to the NBU investigations. The current government of the country, led by populist Robert Fico, initially denied reports that the cameras were of Russian origin and rebuffed any security concerns. Fico has what some would describe as a pro-Russia tilt, but you can read more about that elsewhere, if you are interested.

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[–] lizardo@lemmy.world 4 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Why Russian phone numbers mean Russia backdoors? Wasn't a fake clue like zombie computer? Even Hollywood hacker movies from the ’80s knew that if he were really Russian, he’d at least use a German phone number.

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 7 points 12 hours ago

in slovakia, you can't drive to the store because the traffic lights have been hacked.

in russia, you can't drive to the store because there's no gas and the warehouse is a smoking hole in the ground.

[–] Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 7 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (2 children)

Everything that can have a back door has a back door. No exceptions.

(whether Russian cameras or USA F-35 fighters)

[–] cantstopthesignal@sh.itjust.works 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

May I introduce, the man without a butthole!

[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.cafe 1 points 11 hours ago

and this is why the average multi-millionaire needs to make their own silicon chips

[–] JensSpahnpasta@feddit.org 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The current government of the country, led by populist Robert Fico, initially denied reports that the cameras were of Russian origin and rebuffed any security concerns.

We know that russia is trying to disrupt military logistics going from western countries into Ukraine. We saw attacks at train lines. We saw the recent drone attack at ukrainian military cargo planes in Leipzig. We know that russia is using agents to install secret webcams on roads to monitor military traffic. We know that germany switched off its public autobahn webcams because of this. Russia using backdoors in traffic cams is totally something they would do and Fico is lying here

[–] trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world 4 points 14 hours ago

Fico is lying, fork found in kitchen

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 112 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Does make you wonder about all those Flock Cameras going up in the US and Europe.

I wonder how the public would respond if they believed the cameras were accessible by the nefarious Russians or the insidious Chinese?

[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 2 points 5 hours ago

by the nefarious Russians or the insidious Chinese?

why would US Citizens cate ? it's the US Government that wants to harm them.

[–] Triumph@fedia.io 72 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Or the fascist US, which they very likely are.

[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 29 points 1 day ago

That’s not a backdoor though, that’s their stated purpose

[–] yucandu@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

What's the difference?

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 35 points 1 day ago

Benn Jordan exposed their utter cybersecurity failure. His videos are in great part responsible for why the deflock movement took off.

[–] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 22 points 1 day ago

They are accessible by the Russians. They’re accessible from Joe Smoe, as evidenced by Benn Jordan. The cameras don’t discriminate in their discrimination and securities.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 day ago

I remember seeing articles that there are/were security vulnerabilities that went unpatched.

Since the american government is already abusing them, there's less of a conversation about how foreign governments might abuse them

[–] bedwyr@piefed.ca 3 points 1 day ago

I as well wonder. I also wonder why we don't start a rumour that that is the case.

It's not unethical, because we should all know the US did make sure there are back doors they can spy through. It's true, even if we don't know how it's true. Same with the kill switches in high value military gear they sell, like fighter jets and bombers.

[–] yucandu@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (8 children)

The public has been generally brainwashed into believing the Russians aren't a threat, or are even a savior of right wing anti-gay gun-toting wife-beating conservatism.

But considering Trump is working with Russia, and Russia is working with China, it's probably not that far out of reality.

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[–] metermatic26@lemmy.world 44 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Ye… Russian and Chinese infiltration are exactly the reason why leftists and centrist blocs in the EU introduced things like the GDPR snd Cybersecurity laws.

And why right wing extremists are constantly subverting efforts for more control and regulation.

[–] raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

Interesting how that goes, innit? Nazis and fascists happily supporting Russian & Chinese campaigns to destabilize Europe.

[–] Lasherz12@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Reminds me of Flock in the US. They claim to have no access to outside users when requested, and yet in Denver they kept them up and running and only took them down when bagged so the data would be useless to other users. I feel like at some point we're going to find the justice department or something like Palantir had unlimited access to the whole network the entire time.

[–] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

There are now plenty of flock cameras taken down. I wonder if someone is being able to extract the firmware from one of those and start to reverse engineering it to see what's doing and what can do.

[–] Lasherz12@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Many adjacent videos to what you're proposing. This guy is a legend. https://youtube.com/@bennjordan

[–] Vandals_handle@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I believe this is the reason for some of the data center buildout, not AI but massive amounts of storage to store data long term. AI might layer be used to edit data to manufacture evidence.

That's why I wear my tinfoil hat down low to obscure my face.

[–] Lasherz12@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Well hard drives are brutally expensive now too, but I think Nvidia wouldn't be the richest company in the history of the world if the expansion wasn't all based on compute.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

palantir, MS, google certaintly does already. palantir likely has first access.

[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 day ago

They both certainly do, that’s not even a question in my mind. There’s no other reason you build a “disruptive” surveillance camera system and guerrilla-install them even in places that had no contract, other than to give eyes to the intelligence industrial nightmare that is addicted to total control of all humans everywhere

As if they’d bother to bring peace if they ever accomplished this

[–] Retiredtoflorida@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Maybe it would be a good idea to spread the rumor that the Russian and china were using flock cameras to help Iran plan a terror attack. But that would be so wrong….

[–] bedwyr@piefed.ca 3 points 1 day ago

We really should start some rumours, idk if that's the one I would go with, but yeah, something(s) like that. I said the same further up the page actually.

[–] yucandu@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

learns basic propaganda techniques

forgets that right wing Americans have been convinced Russia is actually the good guy

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Someone is going to Die Hard 4 someone else eventually. In fact, didn't Russia knock a bunch of Ukrainian millitary communications satellites off before they invaded?

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260730-satellite-killers-what-a-war-in-space-might-look-like

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