Chinese Consulate (Christchurch) Major Security Upgrade!

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#3015674 1-Jan-2023 08:59

Actually...it might be smart to tone it down a bit. Naming someone a moron, who works as security for a living isn’t acceptable and the tone smacks of racism is unpleasant and encourages it.

All Embassies have security and bringing public attention to each camera is not in the interests of anyone including yourself. I imagine they have families with children living inside the compound and Christchurch has had enough racial happenings lately to warrant heightened security.

antoniosk

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#3015743 1-Jan-2023 13:04

it doesn’t look that bad and no different to any other embassy I’ve seen around wellington. The Indonesian one is around the corner from me and has similar cameras and high fencing, the Chinese building is completing earthquake strengthening and refit and is looking quite nice. The Indian and Thai embassies in Molesworth st are brand new and of similar security and controls.

Embassies will always be targets of abuse and politics, so strengthening security is to be expected.

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Lias

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#3015751 1-Jan-2023 13:25

Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.. but then again if I had the choice I'd live behind 10 ft high reinforced walls topped with electrified razor wire, AI controlled machine guns and a minefield.. Nothing says "no door knockers" quite like a minefield :-P

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Geektastic

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#3015754 1-Jan-2023 13:41

You’d be surprised what the US one in Wellington has.

Embassy security is wise. I always wanted a job working in that sphere but never quite found one.

wellygary

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#3016705 4-Jan-2023 09:16

MarkM536:

NZ Govt has passed a law banning Hikvision on Human rights abuses.

Pretty sure they haven't , there have been plenty of comments but no action....

UK and US have clamped down with them, but NZ has yet to do anything
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/130806446/chinesemade-cameras-pose-potential-security-risk-to-new-zealand

"In November, the US and UK governments made moves to severely restrict the use of Chinese-manufactured security cameras in government buildings and public places.

CyberCX executive director of security Adam Boileau said New Zealand businesses and the government needed to follow suit."

sen8or

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#3016715 4-Jan-2023 10:16

If NZ move to restrict chinese manufactured security cameras, wont that pretty much be all of them, regardless of external branding?

Maybe the Chinese consulate got all jealous of the recent overhaul of the Japanese consulate in Christchurch and didn't want to be out done

k1w1k1d

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#3016719 4-Jan-2023 10:27

What is the actual risk with Chinese cameras?

Could they send possibly sensitive photos to China, let someone take control of them, or just stop working?

Are there alternative, non-Chinese cameras available?

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#3016739 4-Jan-2023 10:49

k1w1k1d:

What is the actual risk with Chinese cameras?

Could they send possibly sensitive photos to China, let someone take control of them, or just stop working?

Are there alternative, non-Chinese cameras available?

A lot of "smart" devices communicate back "home" if they have access to the internet, and there's always the question of how secure they really are.

My Samsung TV generates a whole heap of traffic that it wants to send back to Samsung, and the only way that any of this was visible was when I set up a DNS adblocker (Pi-hole).

For any smart devices, you only want to allow them access to the least amount of resources possible, and the best way to do this is to place them on their own VLAN within your network and establish appropriate firewall rules to restrict WAN & LAN access. If a smart device happens to be compromised somehow, then it's not going to have access to the rest of your normal devices (PC's, phones etc).

Best practice for remote access of anything (such as camera footage) is to establish a VPN between your home network and the mobile devices. This means that you don't have to make an online account for the camera manufacturer or use their cloud services that your video footage is streamed to before being passed to your phone. It's a secure & direct link back to your own home network.

tchart

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#3016782 4-Jan-2023 12:29

heavenlywild: That's what my house would have if I had endless money, haha.

I know youre joking but you'd no doubt get a cease and desist from the local council.

Notice how everything in the photos is on the other side of the fence - even the razore wire - since its "chinese soil".

msukiwi

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#3016783 4-Jan-2023 12:36

tchart:Notice how everything in the photos is on the other side of the fence - even the razore wire - since its "chinese soil".

The majority of the cameras are actually above NON-Consulate land!

Ruphus

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#3016879 4-Jan-2023 15:02

MarkM536:

NZ Govt has passed a law banning Hikvision on Human rights abuses.

@MarkM536, still waiting on your evidence to back up this statement.

msukiwi:

The majority of the cameras are actually above NON-Consulate land!

Does that mean the council (or neighbor) could technically "cut them off" and throw them back over the fence like we can do with an over-grown tree? 🤣

Edit:spelling

neb

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#3016897 4-Jan-2023 16:05

Geektastic: You’d be surprised what the US one in Wellington has.

That's particularly striking in Oslo where the royal palace is directly across the road from the US embassy. The palace grounds are open to the public, it's a huge park, you can go right up to the windows (although they're set high up so not easy to see into, and it would be a bit rude to do). People stroll through there, have picnics, do yoga, please mind the flowers when you're wandering around, and the gazebo by the pond back there is a great place for portrait photos.

Just across the street is an ugly maximum-security prison - that's literally what it looks like - with the US staff cowering inside.

Really shows the difference in the relationship between the public and the government/rulers in Norway vs. the US.

neb

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#3016898 4-Jan-2023 16:07

Lias:
Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.. but then again if I had the choice I'd live behind 10 ft high reinforced walls topped with electrified razor wire, AI controlled machine guns and a minefield..

Sadly, there are numerous countries where something close to that is the norm. And it's still not enough to keep you from getting your throat cut in your sleep.

Lias

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#3017231 5-Jan-2023 11:03

k1w1k1d:

What is the actual risk with Chinese cameras?

Could they send possibly sensitive photos to China, let someone take control of them, or just stop working?

All of the above and more. Most modern IP cameras are effectively a Linux based single board computer with a camera module. If they have internet connectivity they can potentially be used for DDOS attacks, but perhaps the biggest fear is that they could serve as an entry point that then allows lateral movement.

Ignoring the more likely reality of security failures due to the poor practices of the developers and lack of freely available firmware updates for these devices, a worst case type of scenario is something like this:

The CCP forces Hikvision/Dahua/etc to include a backdoor of some sort in firmware that remains quiescent until the phone home process encounters a certain trigger. That then gives the CCP or it's sponsored bad actors remote access into a shell on the device, where they perform reconnaissance of the network then launch attacks against other devices attempting to move laterally and escalate privilege.

Lias

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#3017233 5-Jan-2023 11:03

neb:

Sadly, there are numerous countries where something close to that is the norm. And it's still not enough to keep you from getting your throat cut in your sleep.

Cape Town springs to mind

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