Hackers Got Inside a Flock Camera. Its Data Shows How the System Really Works
Hackers stole a Flock Safety camera, copied its storage, and recovered an encryption key exposing vehicle surveillance data and system internals.
Hackers from the collective stegan0gram removed a Flock Safety license plate reader from a roadway, copied its storage, and recovered an encryption key stored in an unencrypted partition, unlocking videos of thousands of vehicle detections. The data, shared with 404 Media, WIRED, and Distributed Denial of Secrets, shows the camera generated roughly 1.6 million images of about 50,200 vehicles over 21 days and detects people, bicycles, and bumper stickers in addition to license plates. The dump follows 2025 research by Jon 'GainSec' Gaines documenting flaws enabling root access, which Flock downplayed. Flock's national network makes camera records searchable by more than 2,000 agencies, fueling controversy over police and immigration lookups.
- Hacktivist collective stegan0gram physically removed a Flock camera and dumped its software, sharing data with journalists and DDoSecrets.
- An encryption key in an unencrypted 'media' partition unlocked videos despite Flock's claims of on-device encryption protection.
- Recovered logs show roughly 3,300 vehicles photographed daily, with on-device computer vision detecting people and bicycles.
- Flock camera records in Alpharetta, Georgia were searchable by more than 2,000 agencies nationwide, including federal offices.
- The device runs about 20 Flock-built apps; plate and vehicle identification happen on Flock's servers, not the camera.
- Vendors
- Flock Safety
- Threat actors
- stegan0gram
- Victims
- Flock Safety
- Countries
- United States
From the original article
7 min read at wired.com
A hacker collective pulled down a Flock camera and dumped its data. The files included thousands of videos and logs showing that the device captured 1. 6 million images of 50,000 vehicles in 21 days.
By Dhruv Mehrotra, Joseph Cox · wired.com
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