Hangzhou Xiongmai To Recall Webcams Linked To US Cyberattack

Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology, the Chinese manufacturer of webcams linked to a huge cyberattack in the U.S., is gearing up to recall the devices.

According to a report by Reuters, the recall could include up to 10,000 of the devices that were compromised. Reuters noted security researchers discovered the webcams had been targeted in the attack which brought down major websites, including Twitter and Spotify, for some time last week. The report noted the attack on Friday (Oct. 21) raised concerns among security experts because it showed a new type of the threat rooted in devices that are internet-enabled but don’t have a lot of security built into them. Hackers were able to use hundreds of thousands of the devices to overwhelm a target with so much traffic the site couldn’t stay up and running.

Liu Yuexin, Xiongmai’s marketing director, told Reuters the company would recall the first few batches of surveillance cameras made in 2014 that monitor rooms or shops for personal use. The company said it fixed holes in earlier products, requiring users to change passwords and having telnet access blocked. The executive noted that devices in China and other places aren’t likely to be vulnerable to similar attacks because they are used more often for industrial purposes and therefore are connected to secure networks.

“The reason why there has been such a massive attack in the U.S. and [one] is not likely going to be in China is that most of our products in China are industrial devices used within a closed intranet only,” Liu said. “Those in the U.S. are consumer devices exposed in the public domain.”