IP Cameras in the Modern Warfare

IP Cameras in the Modern Warfare

Internet-connected cameras have become a valuable intelligence asset in modern warfare and are used to support intelligence collection and battle damage assessment. Sergey Shykevich examines different cases of various actors to show how the targeting and compromise of IP cameras support intelligence collection, operational planning, and battle damage assessment. We will focus on a case study that is showing how Iranian threat actors are targeting IP cameras across Middle East and Cyprus since the start of the current war. Our findings suggest that this activity forms part of Iran’s operational doctrine in support of missile operations, in some cases potentially preceding launches, and that tracking such activity from attributed infrastructure may provide an early indicator of escalation or follow-on kinetic activity. To put the Iranian activity in context, we compare it with Russia's long-running use of the same technique.