South Korean police have charged four individuals in connection with a large-scale hacking operation that targeted tens of thousands of private surveillance cameras in homes and businesses, stealing sexually exploitative footage. Authorities said the suspects accessed approximately 120,000 internet-connected cameras, manipulating and selling hundreds of videos to an overseas-based website.
The Korean National Police Agency revealed that two of the suspects were responsible for contributing more than half of the content posted on the website. The suspects, who did not know each other, were investigated between November of last year and October, according to Kim Young-woon, chief of the agency’s Cyber Terror Investigation Unit. One of the suspects is also charged with producing sexually exploitative content of children and adolescents; police allege the footage had been stored but not sold.
All four individuals face charges for hacking internet protocol (IP) cameras, while two are additionally charged with selling the illegally obtained sexually exploitative material. Distribution of pornography is largely illegal in South Korea, and sexual exploitation charges apply when footage is taken of someone’s body without consent. Authorities are also investigating the website operator and users who viewed the stolen content.
Police said the hackers exploited cameras that were less secure because they transmitted data over IP networks, such as home WiFi, rather than analog systems. Many of the breached networks used simple passwords with repeated characters or sequential numbers, highlighting the importance of strong password practices, the agency said. Some of the suspects reportedly received payments in virtual assets for their activities, with amounts reaching $24,000 and $12,000 for different individuals.
Illegally filmed videos have long been a major issue in South Korea, fueling the feminist movement and prompting government crackdowns on “molka” cameras hidden in public spaces such as swimming pools, hotels, and bathrooms. Experts warned that IP cameras worldwide remain vulnerable to hacking if passwords are weak or reused across services.
The case echoes similar incidents internationally. In 2019, a man in Mississippi hacked into a Ring camera installed in a child’s bedroom, using the device’s two-way communication to harass the family. Ring, owned by Amazon, reported that many such intrusions occurred because users reused usernames and passwords exposed in previous data breaches.
South Korean authorities urged IP camera users to regularly update passwords and ensure security settings are properly configured to prevent further exploitation.
