Big Brother is Watching
This popped up in our news feed:
Bluetooth-enabled tasers and body-worn cameras, used by thousands of Australian police officers, can inadvertently reveal their real-time location to any criminal with a phone or laptop.
Police services around the country have been warned of the security flaw. But despite the safety risks, especially to officers who are undercover, in tactical units or who take their equipment home, none appear to have acted.
Devices that use bluetooth have their own unique serial number called a MAC address. Most mobiles, like Apple iPhones, have built-in privacy features that randomise the code and make them harder to track.
This hacker realised US tech giant Axon, which sells tasers and body-worn cameras to police around the world, had failed to do the same.
Which was an odd coincidence, because two people emailed up this Case Report (click and enlarge to read):
Real? No idea.
Possible? Certainly.
Likely? In this day and age with body cams, air tags, GPS/RFID chips, META glasses and everyone's cell phone doubling as a portable spy device, oh Hell yeah. You just need someone dedicated enough to pull all the metadata together to filter it into something usable.
Beware. There isn't much you can do about it, but be aware that it's happening. Constantly.
Labels: info for the police
posted by SCC at 12:05 AM
79 Comments:
Pacemakers show up in Bluetooth devices. Manufacturers assure they can’t be hacked. But if LEO great can be traced, so can pacemakers or any other implant (insulin pumps) that connect wirelessly.
If anyone believes they can’t be tracked, i, have some swamp land to sell for new unaffordable housing.
Sounds like a class action lawsuit for invasion of privacy and putting our safety in jeopardy. You think JC and the boys at the union hall will have enough time between j’ing eachother off to put one together with our overpaid attorneys.
The security flaw is that Axon failed to randomize the Bluetooth
MAC addresses on several lines of equipment (like the T7 and T10 models). Most modern consumer electronics (like an iPhone) constantly randomize their Bluetooth IDs to prevent people from tracking you as you walk through a mall. Because Axon's hardware uses fixed, predictable MAC addresses linked directly to their manufacturer code, anyone with a generic Bluetooth sniffing app can detect them. Security researchers demonstrated that you can use a basic Android phone to scan the airwaves, filter for Axon's manufacturer signature, and spot an active officer from up to 400 meters away. Because it's an unpatchable hardware limitation on certain models. And the ones CPD use don’t have a flight mode or covert mode that disables Bluetooth so we are all subject to this. Only the best equipment money can buy for the boys and girls in blue
Nice! I’m sure the Democrat politicians are all Ok with this.
It’s 100% real. It’s happening all over the country. Ethical hackers have warned the government for years regarding this and they have not been taken seriously. Axon needs to update their software asap.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-08/police-advised-turn-bodycams-to-flight-mode-over-security-flaw/106654330
Non-criminal case report, or information report?
I told Dr. Dean Angelo Sr. PhD our former FOP President about the contract that officers had to sign in order to acknowledge that the BWC’s used Bluetooth to access officers cellphone over 10 years ago. His FOP field Rep also worked for AXON. You have been played about the BWC. It is not your friend, welcome to 1984, you peasant.
If there’s a will, there’s a way.
Turn bluetooth off like I do on my phone. But, contact the feds, they should find that site and arrest the persons behind it
I bought a new Jeep 2 years ago and the salesman told me that "I had to connect my smart phone to my new vehicle". I told him the only 2 things that "I have to do is pay taxes and die". A close friend who was next to me when I told the salescrook that, said that he had the look of a deer in the headlight. So, it's been 2 years and there is no phone synced to my vehicle and she runs just fine. I have a 2009 ford which worked off of 2G network and plan on keeping it as long as possible.
The less electronic devices you carry on your person is the smartest way to go.
Do we really find it shocking that a company that relies on municipal contracts cuts corners?
Lawsuit time! This could be the mother load that gets me out of Shitcago 5 years early!
I miss my Western Electric rotary phone. Lift the handset. Listen for the dial tone. Dial the #. Talk. When finished, hang up. Don't call someone during the dinner hour nor after 9pm.
10 or so years ago, they had the cop database with disciplinary histories. 5 years ago, there was the doxing project with all our pictures and social media. Combining that info with our location data wasn't a stretch of the imagination. We all heard about Axon recently trying to sell the department on remote and proximity-based activation for the latest BWCs, so we already knew they could be connected to (and monitored) by those who could access the signal. We just hoped the signal was secure. Same as in-car cams/mics, department-issued phones, and vehicle GPS. Most of us know we aren't sneaking up on anyone anyway. On calls, announce/establish your presence and control the scene. Be vigilant for subjects or vehicles who may be following, and be safe out there.
Shouldn't be too long before all the bogus AI videos start popping up.
Put your BWC in flight mode to avoid this type of thing happening
How is ol' Deano doing?
Now, kees me you fool!!!!
You’re a public employee …
For what crime exactly ?
I recommend that any officer who takes AXON equipment home invest in a Faraday bag. Completely blocks the signals.
https://godarkbags.com/collections/faraday-bags?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21294976753&gbraid=0AAAAAC1J7rW7OqpA_DioqOQfBb3ywPL4y&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsMLSBhD9ARIsAIpUTDrpE67PjXvUbj4oEaFKRQMaEAAB-g_4P1XHv9emWgy1ivSzXcYuJYwaAi3BEALw_wcB
Or search Amazon.
Why sit there and entertain the A Hole. Drive off.
Sure they are all ok with it. Unless the data is used to track down an offender.
Why do you need your bluetooth on at work? Why do you need your personal phone at work? If you use your phone at work at a crime scene, can the defense still sub poena your phone?
Amen.
This may get much worse very soon. AIs such as Claude, Gemini, and Chat-GPT have developed into powerful expert coding assistants. Very useful - and extremely dangerous. "Black hats" using AI are detecting and exploiting security flaws many times faster than before, and the rate is accelerating. Financial, health care, transportation, utility, and government IT will get hacked. So will personal and residential devices (phones, vehicles, the Internet of Things).
"You just need someone dedicated enough to pull all the metadata together to filter it into something usable." Or someone who knows how to prompt an AI to write the code to do it. It will happen.
Just A Civilian (who is really scared about the next few years)
FOP,PBPA should request his is corrected or call for a job action. This is a safety issue.
If that happens, then you just have to make lemonade. If life throws lemons at you, then learn to make lemonade. I will just go on the medical to make up the difference. Do not hate the player hate the game.
I am retiring in 3 years. I am hitting the medical for a few times a year for months at a time. Before I retire, I am making sure that I do not leave any medical days on the table.
Call mostly bullshit. For 1, the tasers are NOT GPS'd. Body Cam 4's do have GPS, as do your cars. Second, if coppers are stupid enough to use their real names on their socials, not lock them down, and broadcast they are police, then they deserve everything they get.
IF you can get the MAC from the BWCs via bluetooth, the first 3 bytes of it is normally the manufacturer ID.
Yet you still use a smart phone. You're genius. As soon as you get a smart phone, you have already given up your privacy, location, etc. Whether it's connected to a car doesn't matter Einstein.
Okay so what's the app? One random person on the street only knows this exists?
I'm glad I'm retired from the Chicago Police Department and have ZERO regrets about it!
Is swamp gas included in the sale price?
So circle jerks and pizza parties aren't exclusive to the inmates in county?
Sadly he took that info to his grave.
I bet u had ADHD as a kid. Your parents would say hey stop that put down.
They can't randomize. That's how they recognize each other on scene. People are making this a bigger deal than it is. It's BLE. If you detect the cop's camera, he's already next to you.
Interesting question, if a device can be hacked, lets say a taser can it be fired by that hacker? Is the trigger a mechanical trigger which controls the discharge or an electronic switch which activated the firing circuit. For example, the accelerator pedal on a modern car is just an electronic control unit. No linkage actually going to control anything.
No.genius. I have 2 phones. One is a smart phone which is placed in a Faraday bag while driving. The other is a flip tracfone which has the wifi disconnected, and has been renewed yearly via cash purchased cards here and there. Had the service for 16 years and it does not tie back to me via a Google search. And the Sim card which is in all modern vehicles has been removed. Also, my 2008 mazda does not have a cellular hook up as it has an aftermarket radio.
Bite me
Stupid LT Tracy Davies on 1w 016 still dosent know how to approve a TRR?!? Still had to call another LT who’s off to either come in and do it for her or guide her through it. Honestly if you are the other LT, why even help her? She’s too afraid to sign off on TRRs because it might come back to bite her. At least LT RI is riding it out on the medical to retirement
Body Cam 4s and 3s have the capability to live feed back to Axon, I'm not sure if Chicago pays for it, but the tech is inside those cameras. They can always receive a live ping, as you should know when you use the cameras to get a code to login axon.
Same here Brother!! No more stress and bullshit form the Dept. Fuck You, Pay Me my pension!
How many devices do these fools need to track a blue and white sitting on Montrose? How many POs sitting in a blue and white on Montrose think they are not being watched, tracked, recorded and exposed to all kinds of EMF...? If a real PO working on the streets or even in the station, doesn't expect to be targeted simply for wearing a blue uniform shirt (or white) then we wouldn't have signed up for this. Head on a swivel boys and girls? DBEL
if there's a will,,, there's a cb number
Don't think it's over
Wow! That will show em
The mayor's detail and the governor's detail security specialists do not wear body worn cameras as required by law just like other lesser officers. What do they know that we don't know? Politicians know BWCs open up the possibility of trouble tarnishing their pristine reputation and image. The elected class talk the talk about sunshine and transparency for everyday police but seem to exempt the king of Chicago and the top state level Authoritarian billionaire servant lackey guards from the mandated BWC law. BWC police rules for thee, but never for thee loyal Praetorian Guards for Lets go Brandon and Jaba the Hutt.
The people's elected representatives act like they are nobility. That includes state legislators and alder-creatures with 24 hour police officer security guards. No BWC footage from their personal security ever! And write in BWC carve outs into the law to keep the watchful eyes of society's guardians from catching them in inadvertent BWC recorded acts of abuse of their power for personal gain, video of persons of ILL repute or felons, undue influence manipulations in public policy or law, extra ordinary compensation wheeling and dealing conversations related to their office, etc. What are elected public officials working on behalf of the people's interests scared of or fearful of after being recorded on a BWC camera if they are on the up and up?
if life throws you lemons add vodka
Can't attest to the link, but this idea is a very good one. Not sure how much it helps if you also have a take-home car, but if you only have take-home AXON equipment, pop it in before you leave work.
Would cooking my bwc in microwave for 3-5 min help or hinder the situation?
Yet you’re still stupid !!!
The story, which was not on BWC, was way to detailed for a walk up conversation. You are not remembering that much detail.
MOntrose5-5555
So when I’m on the street in full uniform in my marked squad car, someone can pinpoint my location and be like “hey officer, there you are!” The horror.
Mmmmm, mine doesn't have a flight mode.
I too would like to know what crime you make up for this. There’s nothing illegal about detecting radio signals.
3 - 5 seconds will do it. I was told by an old timer on the desk that they’d routinely “nuke” the cell phones of asshole prisoners. They’d smoke almost immediately. I’d imagine the electronics in both are similar. 😃
Lmao, what are you hiding from, if you are a citizen of the US, work and live your life here, they already know who you are and what you are doing. You didn’t fool any government agency or hacker for that matter. Life is so much better not caring about this stuff.
Correct, it doesn’t have gps, it has Bluetooth lite.
Is she still stealing energy from the city to charge her Tesla?
Wow! A 2009 Ford and a Jeep! What a gripping life you do lead. My cars are all synced to the hilt and don’t share your paranoid delusions.
Don't you mean....byte me?
Dummy, the issue becomes it’s also linked to invisible institute, credit bureau’s, county clerks office, etc. If you have a unique last name you are screwed!
It should have been an info report, not a non criminal general offense case report.
Your Mazda had OBDI 3, I looked it up. It is being scanned by WIFI and the VIN is identified all over the place.
She’s a moron
What an arrogant prick that guy was... we're gonna have professional comtract negotiators work this contract, not policemen... how'd that one work out? The usual shit contract and benefits loss. Dont forget that free car he left with. Unions a joke, sells you out every turn.
100%
Next time you spark test your taser, make sure it is right next to the USB port of your BWC. problem solved.
Ok ostrich just keep your head in the sand !
Lol, yeah there’s nothing to worry about simpleton
Faraday bag, fucking hilarious. 2 phones, even more hilarious. Your being on this site is giving up your privacy. Give it up dude, your being tracked.
The officer might have typed the report as they were talking with the person telling them that information.
Bluetooth addresses can be randomized, and set up with something called a "key" so even those randomized addresses can sync with the docks at the EOS, but despite that, you're still going to be broadcasting Bluetooth packets as a device.
So if *some* bad guy with some technological skills (or an IT guy working for him) is out somewhere and knows there's only 5 regular Bluetooth devices there for the TV remote and whatnot, and all of a sudden 1-30 new Bluetooth devices show up - gee, what can we infer it to be?
Pizza guy? Did someone order?
Bunch of fellow gang members?
Or coppers?
Bluetooth isn't just detectable from short distances either, antennas make it possible to pick that stuff up from far off... so if you're going to do a warrant at a remote location, they could pick up devices from hundreds of feet away easily... miles out in the desert.
Don't forget the vehicles with BlueTooth, phones with bluetooth, watches, apple airtags, other tags, the automatic trigger for the body cam attached to your equipment belt or in the car, etc...
Stay safe.
You know they can't call for a job action because that would be illegal, right genius?
Stealing energy? Are you saying you've never charged your phone at work, taken a discount on food or beverages, run a personal errand at work, come late without dropping a slip, taken a duck, etc? Sure, you're 100% legit living in your glass house.
If you weren't a bust out, you wouldn't have to wait three years.
I was the afternoon desk sergeant when a visiting lieutenant, who was the WC that tour, asked me if I was the regular. I told him I was. He instructed me to have the field sergeants handle roll calls. He gave me his cell number and told me to call him if I needed anything. He then went "out in the field." He returned just before relief with midnights. Would you rather have that lieutenant Karen?
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