Hundreds of CCTV cameras are feared to be a 'security threat'

HUNDREDS of surveillance cameras are still in operation across Greater Manchester, despite the government deeming them a security threat for Whitehall.

- BY GEORGE LYTHGOE

The CCTV cameras made by the Chinese partly state-owned company Hikvision were banned from ‘sensitive sites’ within Westminster in 2022.

Despite this, the UK government is still allowing the cameras to be used by local authorities.

In Greater Manchester, nine out of the 10 councils currently use the cameras, the Local Democracy Reporting Service understands.

The CCTV cameras are dotted across high streets in the region, and monitor typical things like crime prevention and community safety.

A state-owned company is a business entity owned and controlled by a government.

Genetec, a cyber security software company, are pushing the UK government to extend their ban to all local authorities.

There is a fear these cameras could be used as a gateway for intelligence gathering by Beijing - a claim Hikvision have denied. The company said their products ‘adhere to strict security requirements and comply fully with English laws and regulations.

They point out they are a manufacturer, and so do not install or maintain devices, or have access to end-user video data.

A spokesperson for Genetec said that CCTV cameras are far more advanced than they used to be, meaning they are essentially computers and can be hacked like any other device.

CCTV has become the common term for surveillance cameras, but the old analog system didn’t need a firewall for protection as it was a Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) network.

With some councils not recognising this potential security threat, surveillance cameras could become a target for data gathering, Genetec explains. But Hikvision says they just make the products and cannot access the data from the cameras remotely.

Professor Fraser Sampson, who works as the professor of governance and national security at the Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence and Organised Crime Research, is disappointed by the government’s lack of movement on the issue.