Hackers Tear Apart Flock Safety Camera — 1.6 Million Images Found in 21 Days
The short version: Researchers profiled in a new Intel Desk video say they physically cracked open a Flock Safety ALPR and pulled 1.6 million images in three weeks.
Our Take
If the findings covered by The Intel Desk hold up, this is exactly the nightmare scenario privacy advocates have been warning about: a roadside surveillance box, bolted to a pole in your town, that turns out to be far less secure than the company selling it to your police department claims. Flock has built a nationwide network by promising cities "public safety," but public safety infrastructure that can reportedly be popped open and drained of over a million images in 21 days isn't safety — it's a liability with a monthly subscription fee.
What makes this bigger than one video is the math. These cameras aren't logging a handful of plates — they're vacuuming up everyone who drives past, tourists and neighbors alike, and stacking that data for months. When a device holding that volume of location history for ordinary people turns out to be reverse-engineerable by outside hackers, the conversation can't just be about one company patching one firmware bug. It has to be about whether this technology belongs on public streets at all.
Credit to The Intel Desk for doing the hands-on work most outlets won't. If you want to see whether Flock has already wired up your own neighborhood, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back at a city council meeting, our take-action page has what you need to get started.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of The Intel Desk, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.