
Insecam: Directory of Unsecured Surveillance Cameras - joan_kode
https://www.insecam.org/
======
andreasley
A few years ago, while browsing the feeds from my country, I had spotted a
camera showing a bedroom with a young child playing. The camera in question
was using UPnP to enable port forwarding by default – with a standard
password.

After looking up the ip address, I notified the ISP which in turn notified the
customer and the camera was taken offline within hours.

While it may not be unexpected to us that such insecure cameras are sold, less
tech-savvy users simply don't know about the risks.

~~~
bchanudet
Some time ago I went through the list of my country (France), and some were
definitively not supposed to be here.

One was in a retail shop like 100m from our office, one of my colleagues
actually went there to warn the personel, and it was taken down in the next
minutes (I think they cut off the power of the cameras until necessary action
was taken).

An other one was in a restaurant, right above the cashier and (most
importantly) the credit card terminal. The name of the restaurant was visible
on a floor mat, so I could find very easily the website and the e-mail address
to send an e-mail to. But then I struggled when writing the e-mail. I didn't
want to sound like a hacker (and was afraid to be prosecuted), but also I
really wanted them to take it down, by citing some laws here in France that is
very strict about video surveillance on the workplace.

In the end I didn't send any email. I'm not a lawyer, and there was too much
risk IMO. Maybe I'll try going through the ISP next time I browse the cameras.

~~~
netsharc
Couldn't you have made a throwaway email address? Plus, connect through a VPN
just in case they refer the case to the authorities.

It'd be ironic if they threw more resources at finding the "hacker" than at
securing their network...

~~~
bchanudet
I had thought of that, but I think that would only have decreased the
probability for the receiver to actually open the email. At this point it hit
my own "Return Over Time Investment" threshold, and I figured I'd better use
my time helping my own circle to secure their stuff.

------
mattkevan
Years ago there was a Mac screensaver that showed a random insecure camera
feed each time it activated. Lots of dark roads and driveways, but weirdly
fascinating all the same. Don’t think it’s working any more - maybe this could
be the base for a new one.

~~~
photon12
You might be thinking of the Surveillance Saver.

I have a buddy who did a revival a few years back, don't know how bit rotted
it is but here's a link:

[https://www.awgh.org/archives/295](https://www.awgh.org/archives/295)

------
Liquidor
Sitting in a cold office in Denmark, I miss travelling to places like this:
[https://www.insecam.org/en/view/238958/](https://www.insecam.org/en/view/238958/)

~~~
stefan_bobev
A camera like this makes me question something - why was it installed in the
first place? You can't distinguish things like license plates on cars or faces
(I doubt ML helps here either). So what is this for? The view is beautiful,
but I fail to see the purpose of it.

~~~
Symbiote
Advertising. It's linked from the hotel's website:
[https://www.royalhotelsanremo.com/en/webcam-
sanremo](https://www.royalhotelsanremo.com/en/webcam-sanremo)

~~~
GekkePrutser
Ah and in this case it actually makes sense for it to have no password. Unlike
many of the elevator and office cams I'm seeing ;)

------
GekkePrutser
While this kind of content is not unprecedented (think Shodan.io), I haven't
seen a browser with full previews like this.. Nice!! Good official public
webcams are pretty rare so this will be useful to look around the world.

~~~
objectified
I don't think these are official public webcams. At least, that's how I
interpret their FAQ:

[https://www.insecam.org/en/faq/](https://www.insecam.org/en/faq/)

~~~
gwbas1c
Some of the cameras near me are clearly pointed at scenery. I won't presume
anything about why they are pointed at scenery and insecure; but I also won't
presume that they are intended to remain private.

~~~
GekkePrutser
Still, I'm surprised they pretty much all have such miserable quality.

I used to have one overlooking the river in my mother's house. I spent a lot
of time tuning it so it looked really great, both day and night (at night
using really long exposure times). I used high quality webcams at first and
then the 5MP raspberry cam (later modded with a better lens).

But even the "1080p" security cams that cost $200 or more have horrible
quality compared to those. They're good for security purposes yes, but I
wouldn't use them to advertise the views from a hotel.

I really wish there were some really HQ webcams around the world, think 4K or
even 8K (so you could zoom in even on a 4K screen), with good night
performance, it would be so great to really get a feel for a city. These cams
are just so poor.

~~~
gwbas1c
I live in a well-known vacation spot.

One camera pointed at a ski slope. (The location was wrong.) For all I know,
it could be on some ski slope's web page under "current conditions."

Other cameras have ocean or downtown views.

------
gwbas1c
Just an FYI: I had to disable Ghostery in order to see the streams. I suspect
one of the components this site relies on is typically blocked because its
used for adware or tracking.

------
brk
Related, I put this together a couple of years ago to highlight the severity
of a hard-coded backdoor in Hikvision IP cameras:

[https://ipvm.com/reports/hik-hack-map](https://ipvm.com/reports/hik-hack-map)

------
mellosouls
Interesting project but a note of caution - accessing any resources without
permission will presumably be considered hacking in many jurisdictions.

IANAL and don't claim this would mean a likely prosecution risk, just
something to bear in mind.

Happy to be corrected!

------
mvip
Looks like a nice alternative VNC Roulette [1] :)

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8810366](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8810366)

------
Zenst
If you click on any of the cam feeds, just above feed is a link to location,
which will scroll you down and you get a map of all the cams you can navigate
- in Russian.

------
totaldude87
This is both fascinating and creepy at the same time .. While i enjoy seeing
Torino beach video (submitted by another HN'er). Felt creepy seeing this :(

[https://www.insecam.org/en/view/833447/](https://www.insecam.org/en/view/833447/)

Looks like a call center of sorts , essentially an IT company , not keeping
their shit secure :(

~~~
GekkePrutser
Looks like the traffic here has alerted them ;) It's gone now.

------
wadkar
How’s this different from shodan?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shodan_(website)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shodan_\(website\))

~~~
achillean
Shodan isn't a directory of webcams the same way Google isn't a directory of
webcams. Shodan indexes metadata about all devices connected to the Internet,
some of them are webcams. Compared to the rest of the index though they make
up a tiny fraction of the data. Shodan also indexes light bulbs,
refrigerators, power plants, Minecraft servers, Kubernetes clusters and
anything else that runs on a port.

------
superhuzza
Quite a few people using cameras to monitor systems, e.g. pointed at LCD
displays. Nice throwback to the original webcam watching a coffee pot.

------
ragebol
So many 3D-printers!

~~~
Zenst
I was going thru the UK ones and only seen one so far, but oh, so many cars in
the driveway. Still looking for local ones, closest was 4 miles away. Part of
me wants to find something local, drop a note thru their door.

~~~
GekkePrutser
Many have their location miscategorised though. I saw some with a town name
on-screen which was different (but usually nearby) the city listed on the
site.

They probably do an IP location lookup which tends to be pretty inaccurate.

~~~
vmilner
Yes, St Michael's Mount in Cornwall seems to have been moved to London...
[https://www.insecam.org/en/view/845188/#details](https://www.insecam.org/en/view/845188/#details)

~~~
lozf
Indeed, and this is very far from Brixton!
[https://www.insecam.org/en/view/370031/](https://www.insecam.org/en/view/370031/)

~~~
jibolso
Exactly! I suppose users are trying to view the status or their print job.
[https://www.insecam.org/en/view/805349/](https://www.insecam.org/en/view/805349/)

------
jcun4128
I guess we can conclude Axis cameras are not secure

~~~
vermilingua
No, you can conclude that Axis cameras are _by far_ the market leader in the
IP CCTV space.

~~~
creeble
I believe the original Dropcam was an Axis with reverse-engineered (new)
firmware.

They still run!

