Iran Built a Vast Camera Network to Control Dissent. Israel Turned It Into a Targeting Tool

Iran has installed tens of thousands of cameras across Tehran to monitor protests and control dissent, a network that has repeatedly been hacked in recent years. The piece notes that Tehran’s cameras were compromised starting in 2021, with a senior Iranian politician warning last year that Israel had access to the feeds, posing a national security threat.

It says that on 28 February, Israel tracked down Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with the help of Tehran’s own street cameras, an operation described to the AP by officials briefed on the mission. The AP review of leaked data and reports, according to interviews, underscored how the surveillance system has become a weapon in wartime, with algorithms providing details such as addresses and daily movements of individuals connected to leadership targets.

Check Point Research has since reported spikes in Iranian hacking of cameras as the war has progressed, as experts warn that more cameras mean more eyes for potential targeting.