More than 100 employees at security camera startup Verkada Inc. could peer through the cameras of its thousands of customers, including global corporations, schools and police departments, according to three former employees aware of the company’s security protocols.
Verkada was breached on Monday, when hackers gained access to what’s known as a "Super Admin” account that allowed them to see all of the live feeds and archived videos of Verkada’s customers, Bloomberg reported. With access to 150,000 cameras, the hackers were able to see inside Tesla Inc., as well as watch police interviews and witness hospital employees tackling a patient.
The use of Super Admin accounts within Verkada was so widespread that it extended even to sales staff and interns, two of the employees said. "We literally had 20-year-old interns that had access to over 100,000 cameras and could view all of their feeds globally,” said one former senior-level employee, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.