7,000 Cameras in Japan Compromised, Security Firm Finds

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:42 JST, November 8, 2025

At least about 7,000 cameras installed in Japan can be openly accessed, a U.S. security company has found.

This figure exceeds the number of roughly 1,340 video feeds that The Yomiuri Shimbun has confirmed to be openly accessible on seven websites, shedding light on the situation in which the security of many more cameras has been compromised.

Between December of last year and January this year, BigSight Technologies, Inc. collected the IP addresses of vulnerable cameras for research purposes using a system it developed. The company found that video footage from more than 40,000 cameras across the globe had no passwords and were openly accessible. Of those, about 7,000 cameras were in Japan, the second largest number following the United States with about 14,000.

In Japan, footage on such cameras primarily showed parking lots and building entrances. Outside Japan, footage included what appeared to be the interiors of jewelry stores and data centers, as well as police stations, prisons and medical facilities.

The company has also detected exchanges on the dark web concerning the IP addresses of compromised cameras and tools to collect their information that are similar to those used in the firm’s investigation. The company pointed to the possibility that such tools and tactics will be used for crimes and illicit activities.