{
  "id": 7764467,
  "title": "Hackers Stole Flock’s Camera Software, Revealing How the Company Tracks Cars and People",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/hackers-stole-flocks-camera-software-revealing-how-the-company-tracks",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-16T10:30:35.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "404 Media",
    "slug": "404-media",
    "url": "https://www.404media.co/hackers-stole-flocks-camera-software-revealing-how-the-company-tracks-cars-and-people-2/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Hackers stole Flock's camera software, which revealed how the company tracks cars and people. The breach exposed new details on how Flock's cameras work. The hackers published the software, hoping others would copy them. Flock claims its cameras are protected by on-device encryption. The hackers copied the camera's storage and recovered an encryption key, unlocking videos of thousands of vehicle detections. The camera software detects people, license plates, bicycles, and even bumper stickers. Flock's cameras photograph passing vehicles and send the images and data to the company's servers. These timestamped records are searchable by local agencies and, in some cases, other police departments nationwide. The hackers gained access to the Android system on the camera and found unencrypted partitions containing encryption keys and media files like videos and stills. The incident sparked a national conversation about the use of Flock cameras and ALPRs in communities.",
  "summary": "While people around the U.S. are tearing down Flock cameras, one group of hackers went a step further: extracting the camera's software too.",
  "key_points": [
    "Hackers stole Flock's camera software, exposing tracking methods.",
    "Software revealed detection of vehicles, people, and license plates.",
    "Hackers recovered encryption key, unlocking thousands of video detections."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}