a vulnerability is lurking in numerous types of smart devices—including security cameras, DVRs, and even baby monitors—that could allow an attack

Millions of Web Camera and Baby Monitor Feeds Are Exposed

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2021-08-18 10:30:02

a vulnerability is lurking in numerous types of smart devices—including security cameras, DVRs, and even baby monitors—that could allow an attacker to access live video and audio streams over the internet and even take full control of the gadgets remotely. What's worse, it's not limited to a single manufacturer; it shows up in a software development kit that permeates more than 83 million devices, and over a billion connections to the internet each month.

The SDK in question is ThroughTek Kalay, which provides a plug-and-play system for connecting smart devices with their corresponding mobile apps. The Kalay platform brokers the connection between a device and its app, handles authentication, and sends commands and data back and forth. For example, Kalay offers built-in functionality to coordinate between a security camera and an app that can remotely control the camera angle. Researchers from the security firm Mandiant discovered the critical bug at the end of 2020, and they are publicly disclosing it today in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

“You build Kalay in, and it's the glue and functionality that these smart devices need,” says Jake Valletta, a director at Mandiant. “An attacker could connect to a device at will, retrieve audio and video, and use the remote API to then do things like trigger a firmware update, change the panning angle of a camera, or reboot the device. And the user doesn’t know that anything is wrong.”