Flock Said 'Encrypted.' The Key Was On The Camera

Our Take

For years, Flock Safety has leaned on the word "encrypted" like it's a magic shield that ends the conversation. Cold Take Tech just demonstrated why that word means almost nothing if the key to unlock everything is sitting on the same device someone can physically walk up to and crack open. Once a hacking group pulled the key off a single camera, they didn't just get one feed — they got access to more than 27,000 clips. That's not a minor bug. That's the entire premise of "secure surveillance infrastructure" falling apart in real time.

This matters because Flock cameras aren't parked in some hardened data center — they're bolted to poles on public streets, in neighborhoods, outside your kid's school, often with minimal physical protection. A surveillance network is only as strong as its weakest node, and it turns out the weakest node was the camera itself. When a company builds a mass license-plate tracking system and stores the keys to unlock it right there in the hardware, that's not encryption — that's a locked door with the key taped to it.

The bigger issue isn't just this one exploit; it's what it reveals about how little independent scrutiny these systems get before they're deployed on entire towns. Flock markets trust and security to police departments and city councils, and those officials largely take the pitch at face value. If you want to know whether one of these cameras is watching your street, check our map, and if you think your local government should be asking harder questions before signing another Flock contract, our take-action page has next steps.