Thousands of private camera feeds found online. Make sure yours isn’t one of them

Bitsight's research found roughly 40,000 internet-exposed IP cameras streaming images without authentication, predominantly in the US and several other countries, creating major privacy and security risks; attackers could spy, extort victims, gather surveillance for physical intrusion, pivot into networks via SSH vulnerabilities, or conscript devices into botnets (e.g., Mirai) or install ransomware. The report also highlights vendor failures (Ring, Wyze, Eufy), regulatory gaps, and provides practical mitigation steps such as unique credentials, patching, and restricting camera placement.