Наталя ХандусенкоWar
21 July 2026, 16:50
2026-07-21
Russian intelligence hacks IP cameras to monitor logistics in NATO and Ukraine: over 4,000 vulnerable Ukrainian devices discovered
At least one of the Russian intelligence services is systematically hacking surveillance cameras connected to the Internet in Ukraine and European countries. The enemy uses the received video stream to track military transport routes, supply of Western weapons, and also to record the location of Ukrainian defenders. This is stated in a report by the civil (AIVD) and military (MIVD) intelligence services of the Netherlands.
At least one of the Russian intelligence services is systematically hacking surveillance cameras connected to the Internet in Ukraine and European countries. The enemy uses the received video stream to track military transport routes, supply of Western weapons, and also to record the location of Ukrainian defenders. This is stated in a report by the civil (AIVD) and military (MIVD) intelligence services of the Netherlands.
According to intelligence agencies, hackers find devices using automated network scanning, writes The Hacker News.
They don't even need sophisticated digital vulnerabilities to break in: the Russians gain access to cameras that have been left with factory passwords, outdated firmware, or default settings. After that, special image recognition software automatically searches the video stream for military equipment and cargo.
Censys analysts have identified over 87,000 potentially vulnerable devices in the EU, NATO, and Ukraine, of which over 4,000 are located on Ukrainian territory.
The report details two specific vulnerabilities that came to the researchers’ attention: CVE-2016-7407 in the Dropbear SSH component, which was patched back in 2016, and CVE-2021-39275 in the Apache HTTP Server, which is considered a low-risk bug. While neither issue is listed in the CISA catalog as being actively exploited, hackers could still use them in real-world attacks under certain conditions. The age of these bugs is a stark reminder of how long devices have gone without critical security updates.
However, Dutch intelligence services note that they have not yet observed any cases where intelligence data obtained from cameras was used to carry out military attacks outside Ukraine.
In NATO countries, the enemy is currently limited to collecting information, while in Ukraine this data is used directly to guide weapons and attempt to eliminate Ukrainian military personnel and equipment.
UPD. Special services of 11 countries exposed the hacking campaign of the Russian intelligence. They hacked 10,000 cameras on the border to track military aid to Ukraine. What the State Security Service of Ukraine says
