- Hackers took down a Flock camera and extracted a copy of its storage drive
- There, they were able to acess 1.6 million images and 27,000 videos taken over 21 days, despite claims that the encryption system should prevent this
- Morale is reportedly so low at Flock that many workers are ready to quit
Another day, another Flock controversy. As if things couldn’t get any worse for the embattled maker of automatic license plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, hackers have just managed to extract 1.6 million images and 27,000 video clips from one of its systems — something Flock has previously claimed should be impossible.
According to a report from 404 Media, members of a hacker collective named stegan0gram took down a Flock camera and managed to make a “near-complete copy” of its stored data.
When they did that, they found a treasure trove of privacy-compromising information and shared it with both 404 Media and the Distributed Denial of Secrets nonprofit, who then sent it on to Wired.
The report from 404 Media identified around 50,200 vehicles in Flock’s media files. The storage contained approximately 1.6 million images and more than 27,000 video clips taken over the course of 21 days. Older logs were either overwritten or inaccessible.
Perhaps more concerning, Flock’s cameras were able to detect people as well as vehicles and license plates, raising serious questions about how well the privacy of innocent members of the public is being protected. That said, 404 Media found no evidence of any kind of facial recognition being put to use.
The hackers said that they discovered two partitions when they accessed the Flock camera’s Android operating system. Inside one labeled “media,” they found a decryption key that unlocked a storage area housing the vast collection of images and video clips.
That all goes against public statements from Flock. The company has previously claimed that images and videos are only briefly stored on the device after being sent to Flock’s servers, and that no decryption keys were stored on the devices.
But with the hackers discovering stored media going back many weeks, plus the means to decrypt it, it appears that Flock’s statement might be inaccurate.
‘The writing is on the wall’
As you can probably imagine given the near-constant barrage of negative press Flock has been facing in recent weeks, its own employees are reportedly starting to feel the strain. And with morale through the floor, many are seeking to leave the company.
Wired has reported that Flock recently opened up a voluntary separation program for employees that would offer a “generous” severance package to anyone who seeks a way out of the firm. The scheme is open until October 2, with decisions being announced on October 9.
And according to “people familiar with the program but not authorized to discuss it publicly” cited by Wired, morale is so low at Flock that “a significant number of the startup’s roughly 1,500 employees may try to depart.”
That backs up comments from Flock’s own CEO, who said on the All-In podcast in August that “internal moral” has been the biggest casualty amid escalating hostility to the company’s devices.
For many Flock workers, the severance offer is likely to come at a good time. As one apparently disgruntled employee told Wired, “When you see enough of the vandalism [aimed at Flock cameras], you know the writing is on the wall.”
