Police Body Cams Infected With Notorious Conficker Worm

Police Body Cams Infected With Notorious Conficker Worm

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In a shocking breach of security, multiple police body cams manufactured by Martel Electronics have been found to be infected with one of the world’s infamous computer worms:  Win32/Conficker.B!inf.

The discovery was made by security firm iPower. When one of the cameras was attached to a testing machine, the computer’s anti-virus software was immediately triggered. After the company allowed the worm to infect the computer it then attempted to spread across the network.

“iPower initiated a call and multiple emails to the camera manufacturer, Martel, on November 11th 2015,” the researchers wrote in a statement. “Martel staff has yet to provide iPower with an official acknowledgement of the security vulnerability. iPower President, Jarrett Pavao, decided to take the story public due to the huge security implications of these cameras being shipped to government agencies and police departments all over the country.”

Conficker, also known as Downup, Downadup, and Kido spread like fire in late 2008. Within months it infected 15 millions Windows PCs. The Conficker botnet proved to be incredibly difficult to takedown due to its advanced propagation and instruction-spreading methods.

To this day researchers are uncertain what its purpose was, as it was never observed stealing bank account details, passwords, or any other type of personal data.

The worm being installed on police body cams could open up a dangerous window for criminals to access the video they record.The cameras could also be crucial in criminal trials, and if a camera is known to have been tampered with – including by a virus – the evidence from it may be inadmissible in courts.