Happy Holidays!
While trying to grab some last minute Christmas gifts in one department store I couldn’t help but notice a large display of eavesdropping devices at throw-away prices.
My trip through Bed Bath and Beyond revealed the “Cop Cam”, a very small video and audio recorder. Many may have also seen it “on TV” as well. The price had been discounted to under $20, sure to make them popular as stocking stuffers.
With the potential of millions of units being sold to consumers throughout the US, they undoubtedly will also end up in the hands of dozens of employees, workers, and even executives in your offices who could be deploying them – to get a little office gossip, an extra edge on negotiations, or possibly much worse.
What does $20 get you?
The Cop Cam records video and audio on an included 8 Gb memory card. It breaks up the recordings in 5 minute segments, automatically replacing the earliest recording with newer segments. That allows a total of approximately 80 minutes recording. The memory card could easily be replaced with a larger size, up to 32Gb. The unit is also motion activated so, if placed in a meeting room for example, it would not record until attendees came into the room to join the meeting.
Battery life in the Cop Cam is also limited, they claim up to just 45 minutes, but this can be easily overcome by adding an external battery unit or plug-in power supply. Of course, a power source would increase the size of the unit but it still remains a small, and very inexpensive method to exfiltrate information. The 45 minute record time would still allow it to be dropped in place, such as in a potted plant, trash receptacle, or stuck under a table prior to a meeting, then picked up later to retrieve the recordings.
My testing of the unit shows the quality of both the audio and the video to be rather poor. This means that such units may not be that useful for actually making memorable home videos or even for catching criminals stealing your packages, but it is definitely good enough for theft of information.
Of course, a multitude of spy cameras and recorders can be found online with minimal search effort. Below is a selection of covert cameras available at a popular electronics outlet in New York City. If you are concerned with the security of your offices and meeting rooms, then it is worthwhile to be aware of the variety and appearance of such devices and keep an eye out for anything suspicious appearing in your facilities.
While there can be many legitimate applications for small cameras, one should not overlook the danger they pose to information security. Having them at discounted point-of-sale displays in popular retail stores, though, will certainly increase the threat to be reckoned with.
Have a happy and secure holiday season!