Silas Cutler

Do You Have a Chinese Spy in Your Home?

Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Chinese cameras, alarms and security systems have backdoors, and are designed to be ready to spy on you out of the box. Destined for the dumpster, most of these devices are designed to be unmaintainable.

Delivered by a sophisticated shadow supply chain that bypasses regulatory scrutiny supplying fake FCC, CE and UL certification, these devices are carefully laundered through online shopping platforms like Amazon and even high street shops.

This talk will follow our analysis of the devices and current understanding of present backdoor. Additionally, this talk will cover past and ongoing efforts to hold transgressors accountable.

Silas Cutler is a Principal Security Researcher at Censys. With over a decade of experience tracking threat actors and developing methods for pursuit. Before Censys, he worked as Resident Hacker for Stairwell, Reverse Engineering Lead for Google Chronicle, and as a Senior Security Researcher on CrowdStrike’s Intelligence team.

Since 2021, he has played an active role in advancing the Ransomware Task Force’s initiatives for fostering collaboration between the public and private sectors.