According to the journalists of the "Schemy" project, thousands of Chinese surveillance cameras in Ukraine transmit the received information to the servers of manufacturers.
What is known about the surveillance of Ukrainians with the help of Chinese cameras
Journalists note that we are talking about cameras manufactured by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua, which are actively used in all regions of Ukraine.
In particular, investigators, together with specialists, experimented and found out that early models of cameras are vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
It took about 15 minutes to hack a camera manufactured in 2015 as part of the experiment.
It is noted that both Hikvision and Dahua, which produce these cameras, are partly owned by Chinese state-owned companies
At the same time, the PRC authorities force private Chinese companies to provide all information considered strategic for the country's counterintelligence.
What is known about companies that manufacture cameras
In particular, China can obtain numerous video camera recordings from many Ukrainian cities on the front line area and near strategic enterprises.
It is worth noting that in 2022 in the USA, both companies — Dahua and Hikvision, as well as their state co-owners China Mobile and CETC, were recognised as Chinese military companies.
In addition, both Dahua and Hikvision continue to work in Russia.
In 2022 alone, the first paid more than 70 million rubles in taxes.
Both companies were included in the list of international war sponsors by the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) in 2023.
Given the close cooperation between China and Russia, there is a risk of transmitting information from these devices directly to Moscow.
The law enforcement agencies told "Schemy" that it was the Hikvision camera manufactured in 2016 that the Russians hacked during the attack on Kyiv on January 2.
