Hacking 400,000 Apartment CCTV Cameras, Cyber ​​Security Expert Arrested by Police: Allegedly Trying to Sell Explicit and Intimate Recordings

Illustration. (Unsplash/Kevin Ku)

JAKARTA - A man was arrested for accessing a network of CCTV cameras without permission, then trying to illegally sell his footage, including sensitive footage, police said Tuesday.

The arrested man, who is in his 30s, is charged with infiltrating residential security cameras in more than 600 different apartment complexes.

In South Korea, it is common for internet-connected home security devices and cameras to be installed in apartment complexes. Wall-pad devices, which are attached to the wall, can activate other devices in the house.

The hacker, identified only by his last name Lee, is suspected of hacking the wall-pad devices of more than 400.000 households in 638 different apartment complexes between August and November last year, according to the National Police Agency (NPA), reported by the Korea Times December 21.

The NPA said Lee was known as one of the country's top cybersecurity experts.

The investigation into the case began after a series of small preview images of what appeared to be people inside a local apartment appeared on a Dark Web site that was inaccessible to normal web browsers.

Some of the video and image files secured by the NPA contained sexually explicit and intimate material, officials said.

Lee denied the allegations, saying he had provided such files in an effort to prove the need for better smart home security, police said.

However, the NPA has found evidence that Lee attempted to sell the files.