Around 175,000 CCTV are currently installed in Moscowfor security purposes. Of these, over 4,000 are located in central locations in the city, and as the mayor of the Russian in 2017, 3,000 cameras are equipped with facial recognition technology .
As the website , employees of federal government bodies, the Mayor of Moscow, law enforcement agencies, and executive authorities have access to the data collected by CCTV cameras.
But now, an investigation by MBKh Media has found that the website credentials used to access this data are being sold on illegal sites and forums . According to Andrey Kaganskikh, the journalist who conducted the investigation, this data ends up on these illegal sites by Moscow police officers and government officials who are looking to make money.
Someone who wants to watch live what a surveillance camera is recording is given a unique link to the government. They must enter their credentials to be able to view the live stream.
The link automatically expires after 5 days, which is the period of time during which security camera footage from central points in the city is stored, according to the official website.
According to what the investigation discovered, credentials to access the website are available for 30,000 rubles or $470.
There are many buyers available online who are interested in this data. Most of the illegal sites and forums where the datacan be easily found by search engines, making it very easy for sellers to find the right people to sell it to.
