Hikvision Blaming Backdoor On Others, Cannot Hide From DHS

Numerous Hikvision employees are blaming their backdoor on others but Hikvision cannot hide from the US Department of Homeland Security.

Blaming Others

Here is an example of a Hikvision employee's response to the backdoor:

No need To worry, this is some kind attack strategy from our competitor since we are became no 1 in the world.

This is consistent with various comments heard from Hikvision sales and support people, including blaming the 'blogs'.

Cannot Hide From US DHS

This is a dangerous strategy since the 'official website of the [US] Department of Homeland Security' shows:

All anyone needs to do is give them the DHS website link on Hikvision's critical security vulnerabilities.

And DHS credits this to the person who found the backdoor in Hikvision cameras:

Moreover, they can then show that Hikvision received a 'perfect' / worst score of 10 out of 10 from DHS:

Now, in fairness, since Hikvision is owned by the Chinese government, maybe they see DHS, a department of the US government, to be a competitor. Nonetheless, DHS ICS-CERT advisories are well respected for tracking and verifying cyber security vulnerabilities generally.

Take Responsibility

Even if Hikvision does not want to take responsibility, the prudent public relations move is to take responsibility since blaming others will further destroy their reputation.

Sure, blaming others may help short term with naive and loyal partners. However, long term, to have credibility with the rest of the market, the facts cannot be ignored. And the DHS ICS-CERT Hikvision Perfect 10 Worst advisory is powerful evidence.