Israeli police are using Chinese-made cameras to recognize license plates as part of their project to enforce the “Hawk Eye” traffic system, which does not meet the standards required in Western countries such as the United States and the Netherlands. Globes learned that most of the cameras used by the Israeli police to monitor the country as part of the Falcon Eye project are made in China, especially by Dahua. The police also use cameras from the Chinese company Hikvision. These two companies have been removed from the national infrastructure of many 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 threaten 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 dependent on the federal budget.
The municipality of Amsterdam also announced that it will replace within five years approximately 1,300 Chinese-made cameras installed in its streets, due to fear of espionage as well as suspicion of complicity in violating human rights in the communist country. In addition, as far as is known, due to US suspicions about Chinese cameras, Israeli defense companies such as Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) are also obligated not to use these cameras at all.
Dahua and Hikvision were founded in 2001 in Hangzhou, 200 kilometers south of Shanghai. The two companies dominate the global surveillance camera market — Hikvision has a 40 percent share and Dahua 25 percent. Western companies account for most of the remaining 35 percent of the market. The Chinese government owns a 39 percent stake in Hikvision and a 12 percent stake in Dahua.
Both companies have been subject to sanctions and boycotts by a number of Western countries. Dahua has sanctions in the United States, Canada, Ukraine, Australia and the United Kingdom. Hikvision has sanctions and other measures in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Ukraine, South Korea and India.
Despite concerns about spying, the Israeli police have opted to cover the country’s roads with Chinese-made cameras. They are relatively cheap, technologically reliable, and have been “proof of concept” for many years in China. According to regulations, the cameras are supposed to track only license plates, but Adv. Gil Gan Mor, director of the civil rights unit at the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), says the system also stores a close-up image of the vehicle, which can also be seen as the driver and passenger. The police are able to cross-check the data with other databases, such as the vehicle license database, thus establishing a link between the vehicle and its owner, he adds.
The cameras deployed in Israel do not yet have facial recognition capabilities, but according to Gan Mor, the cabinet voted even before the war broke out that it would also support biometric identification, though that legislation has yet to be enacted. “A lot of information can be extracted from just a picture of a vehicle on the road,” says Gan Mor. “You can understand if the journey is abnormal and what its destination is. And if it’s a destination that would embarrass the driver, it can be used against them. Cameras placed near sensitive locations add a security aspect to the problematic nature of the camera system.”
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel contacted the Attorney General before petitioning the Supreme Court to overturn legislation allowing police to retain all graphic content for two years – even of innocent citizens. In the opinion of the Association for Civil Rights, this is equivalent to mobile phone tracking, and can be done without a warrant. 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.
The Israeli Police said, “The police are working by all means necessary to ensure data security and prevent information leakage.”
“The people interviewed in the article appear to be biased and have interests unrelated to the topic,” Hikvision said.
“There is no targeted security issue with Hikvision cameras and the cybersecurity level with other cameras has not been proven to be higher.
“Hikvision cameras are very popular all over the world, including in Western countries and in Israel due to their very high technological capabilities, safety and reliability all at a fair price.
Hikvision cameras comply with the recommendations and regulations of the National Cyber Security Directorate in Israel, the government body responsible for data security and protection of the national civil cyberspace of the State of Israel. The National Cyber Security Directorate has published instructions for reducing data security risks, and Hikvision cameras and cameras comply with all of these instructions.
“Hikvision cameras also comply with the most stringent international standards including compliance with the US Federal Data Security Risk Standard FIBS 140 and laboratory tests have proven that Hikvision cameras have a very high security level.
“Accordingly, large public and private bodies in Israel benefit from the safe and proper use of Hikvision cameras after conducting their checks on the product and determining that it is safe to use in terms of cybersecurity. There are a few countries around the world, which do not encourage the use of Hikvision cameras. Politically motivated or as a result of the trade war with China and without any connection to the safety level of the product.
There was no response from Dahua.
Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on June 27, 2024.
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