Israeli police are deploying Chinese-made license plate recognition (LPR) cameras as part of their “Hawk-Eye” traffic control project, which do not meet the standards required in Western countries such as the United States and the Netherlands. Globes has learned that most of the cameras used by Israeli police to monitor the country as part of the “Hawk-Eye” project are made in China, including by Dahua. The police also use cameras from the Chinese company HikVision. Both companies have been excluded from the national infrastructure of several Western countries in recent years.
Control the global market
Dahua and Hikvision were blacklisted in 2021 by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), along with Huawei, China Telecom and ZTE, as companies that endanger US national security. The US Congress also passed special legislation banning the import and sale of Chinese companies’ products, including Dahua and Hikvision surveillance cameras, by government companies or any organization that receives federal funding.
The municipality of Amsterdam also announced that it would replace nearly 1,300 municipal cameras manufactured in China and installed on its streets within five years, due to fears of espionage and suspicion of complicity in the violation of human rights. man in the communist country. Furthermore, as far as is known, due to US suspicion of Chinese cameras, Israeli defense companies like Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) are also required not to use at all these cameras.
Dahua and Hikvision were founded in 2001 in Hangzhou, 200 kilometers south of Shanghai. The two companies control the global security camera market – Hikvision has 40% and Dahua 25%. Western companies hold most of the remaining 35% market share. The Chinese government holds a 39% stake in Hikvision and 12% in Dahua.
Both companies have been subject to sanctions and boycotts by several Western countries. Dahua is subject to sanctions in the United States, Canada, Ukraine, Australia and the United Kingdom. Hikvision is subject to sanctions and other measures in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Ukraine, South Korea and India.
Despite fears of espionage, Israeli police have chosen to cover the country’s roads with cameras made in China. They are a relatively cheap product, with high technological reliability and a “proof of concept” for many years in China. According to regulations, the cameras are supposed to detect only license plates, but attorney Gil Gan-Mor, director of the civil rights unit of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), says the system also stores a close-up image of the vehicle in which the driver and passenger can also be seen. He adds that the police are able to cross-reference the data with other databases such as the vehicle license plate database, thus creating a link between the vehicle and its owner.
Cameras deployed in Israel do not yet have facial recognition capability, but according to Gan-Mor, the cabinet voted even before the war broke out that it would also support biometric identification, although this legislation has not yet been implemented. not yet adopted. “A lot of information can be extracted from a simple photo of a vehicle along a road,” says Gan-Mor. « We can understand if the journey is abnormal and what its destination is. If it is a destination that will embarrass the driver, it could be used against him. Cameras located near sensitive sites add a security aspect to the problematic nature of the camera system.
ACRI contacted the attorney general before asking the Supreme Court to overturn the legislation, allowing police to retain all filmed content, even that of innocent citizens, for two years. In ACRI’s view, this is equivalent to mobile tracking and can be done without a court order. ACRI also claims that the use of the system is for very broad purposes and is not limited to investigating serious crimes and locating criminals.
Israeli police said: « The police are taking all necessary measures to ensure the security of data and prevent any leakage of information. »
Hikvision said: “It appears that the people interviewed in the article are biased and have interests unrelated to the topic.
“There are no targeted security issues with Hikvision cameras and there is no evidence that the level of cybersecurity with other cameras is higher.
“Hikvision cameras are popular all over the world, including in Western countries and Israel, due to their very high technological capabilities, security and reliability, and all at a fair price.
“Hikvision cameras comply with the recommendations and regulations of the National Directorate of Cybersecurity of Israel, which is the government agency responsible for data security and the protection of the national civilian cyberspace of the State of Israel. The National Cyber Security Directorate has issued instructions to reduce data security risks and Hikvision cameras comply with all these instructions.
“Hikvision cameras also meet the highest international standards, including complying with the U.S. Federal Data Security Risk Standard FIBS 140, and laboratory testing has determined that Hikvision cameras have a very high level of security .
“As a result, important public and private organizations in Israel benefit from safe and appropriate use of Hikvision cameras after they have carried out their checks on the product and decided that it is safe to use in terms of cybersecurity. A few countries in the world, which do not encourage the use of Hikvision cameras, do so for political reasons or due to the trade war with China and without any connection with the safety level of the product.
Dahua did not provide any response.
Published by Globes, Israeli business news – fr.globes.co.il – June 27, 2024.
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