[2024 National Audit] More CCTVs Withdrawn Due to Concerns Over Military Information Leaks

Analysis of National Assembly Defense Committee Member Heo Young's Audit Data
"Withdrawal of Over 1,500 Units... Replacement Timing Also Uncertain"

The military confirmed that approximately 1,500 surveillance cameras (CCTV) removed from forward areas and other locations. This number exceeds the 1,300 units the military previously announced as withdrawn, as it was found that the CCTV produced by a domestic company was designed to be exposed to malicious code from China.

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According to data submitted by the Ministry of National Defense to Rep. Heo Young of the Democratic Party, a member of the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly, the Ministry ordered a full inspection of all CCTV units suspected of information leakage in July. The CCTV supplied by Company H was installed not only in forward areas but also in various Air Force and Navy units.

Among the approximately 1,500 CCTV units withdrawn by the military, 132 units were not even subjected to security measurements. According to Article 4 of the Republic of Korea Counterintelligence Command regulations, CCTV installed in the military must undergo security measurements. This requirement was ignored. Of about 100 CCTV units installed at General Outposts (GOP), approximately 66 units and 22 units installed in forward areas were not subjected to any security measurements. Only about 100 units were replaced during the withdrawal process. The military plans to completely replace all units at a cost of 6 billion won, but the replacement schedule remains uncertain.

Concerns about the possibility of CCTV installed within the military being infected by external malicious code have been consistently raised. The IP addresses (Internet addresses) of the CCTV introduced by our military were set to connect to Chinese malicious code distribution sites. A Chinese company arbitrarily set the IP addresses during the assembly process before supplying them to a domestic company. The configured server was located in Beijing, China, and the site the CCTV connected to was known for distributing multiple malicious codes. If malicious code infiltrates, military video information could be leaked to external parties such as China. This means unauthorized persons could infiltrate the surveillance system.

Rep. Heo criticized, “The military emphasizes that ‘there has been no information leakage because the information was used on an internal network not connected to external networks,’ but it is incomprehensible that measures are only being taken 10 years after the CCTV was installed in 2014.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.