Congressman Krishnamoorthi, Senator Wyden Urge FTC to Investigate Surveillance Tech Companies to Protect Americans’ Personal Data

WASHINGTON - Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) today called for an investigation into Flock Safety, a surveillance technology company, for failing to implement cybersecurity protections, allowing Americans’ personal data to be exposed for hackers, criminals, and spies to steal. 

Flock provides services to more than 5,000 police departments and 1,000 businesses and operates in 49 states, including Illinois, making it the largest surveillance camera operator in the U.S. Its failure to provide substantive privacy protections poses a serious threat to Americans’ data and their security and could result in bad actors accessing the automatic license plate reader (ALPR) system with billions of license plates across the country. This data could be used to track Americans as they travel to places such as doctors' offices, places of worship, or protests.

“Flock has received vast sums of taxpayer money to build a national surveillance network,” Congressman Krishnamoorthi and Senator Wyden wrote in their letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Andrew Ferguson. “But Flock’s cavalier attitude towards cybersecurity needlessly exposes Americans to the threat of hackers and foreign spies tapping this data. Accordingly, we urge the FTC to hold Flock accountable for its negligent cybersecurity practices.”

At least 35 Flock customer accounts have reportedly had passwords stolen by hackers, according to Hudson Rock, a cybersecurity company. Flock does not require its law enforcement customers to use multi-factor authentication (MFA), opening accounts and data up to be circumvented by hackers. Flock also does not support phishing-resistant MFA, which is used by all federal agencies and is considered the gold standard of cybersecurity protection by the government.

In August, Congressmen Krishnamoorthi and Robert Garcia (D-CA), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, launched an investigation into Flock following reports Flock’s ALPR system was being used by law enforcement to track women across state lines following abortion care and to conduct unauthorized immigration enforcement operations. Flock’s cameras were used in a disturbing case that involved a Texas sheriff accessing data in Mount Prospect, Illinois, while searching for a woman who had received reproductive care.

The full text of the letter sent to the FTC is available here.