We mapped nearly a million internet-exposed video services. 8,074 were streaming live to anyone, no password required.
In March 2026, Modat Magnify identified 973,819 active RTSP services across 210 countries. We verified each for live responsiveness and tested for unauthenticated access. 8,074 handed back a live frame with no credentials at all.
Three things stood out:
It is not just port 554. 43.9% of the surface sits on other ports, so detection built around 554 misses nearly half the footprint.
It is not just cameras. More than a third of fingerprinted services are not camera devices: GStreamer pipelines, Wowza servers, legacy media kit that camera-vendor fingerprinting never sees.
It is not just car parks. We found thermal arrays on high-voltage equipment, the inside of a server facility, a SCADA water-treatment dashboard, and one device exposing 358 live feeds. One in five viewable streams sits in a conflict-affected country.
This is not theoretical. In March 2026 CNN reported that Israel had hacked Tehran's traffic cameras years before its strikes on Iran, using them to map the city and build targeting intelligence. No exploit needed.
The feeds were open.
The fix is usually minutes: require authentication, route access through a VPN.
Full research:
modat.io/post/exposed-rtsp
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