Security Researchers Found At Least Eight Ways In Hacking A Nest Camera

Researchers from Cisco Talos, a security firm, have found eight ways to hack the Nest Cam IQ, a smart security camera system from Google.

Motherboard reported that the researchers, by exploiting these vulnerabilities, could take over cameras, gain access to video recordings, and even disable the whole system altogether. After the discovery of the flaws, Google has promised to release a firmware update. However, its cybersecurity system’s weaknesses pose as troubling news for those who have already had these cameras installed inside their houses.

The motherboard also stated that Google said that updates have been rolled out to Nest cameras which are connected to the internet.

The most dangerous vulnerability is one with which attacker could take over the camera’s operation by figuring out a six-character code allowing the camera’s pairing. Although it could take a whole month to find the code, once the code is found, it will also always remain the same even when the camera reboots.

The second most severe flaw is one with which an attacker could get hold of the camera’s information. The information could be the network’s configuration details, a piece of highly valuable information, especially for an attacker.

However, the vulnerabilities found by Cisco Talos researchers weren’t only unique to Nest. This means that it is possible that other cameras available on the market could also have these flaws.

Alissa Knight, a security researcher from Aite Gorup, said in an interview with Motherboard, “The problem is systemic across multiple camera brands.”

Knight wasn’t a part of the team that found the flaws in Nest security. However, she has discovered the similar vulnerabilities in other security cameras which can connect to the internet.

And according to Knight, these weaknesses seem to be common.