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T1512 Video Capture

An adversary can leverage a device’s cameras to gather information by capturing video recordings. Images may also be captured, potentially in specified intervals, in lieu of video files.

Malware or scripts may interact with the device cameras through an available API provided by the operating system. Video or image files may be written to disk and exfiltrated later. This technique differs from Screen Capture due to use of the device’s cameras for video recording rather than capturing the victim’s screen.

In Android, an application must hold the android.permission.CAMERA permission to access the cameras. In iOS, applications must include the NSCameraUsageDescription key in the Info.plist file. In both cases, the user must grant permission to the requesting application to use the camera. If the device has been rooted or jailbroken, an adversary may be able to access the camera without knowledge of the user.

Item Value
ID T1512
Sub-techniques
Tactics TA0035
Platforms Android, iOS
Version 2.1
Created 09 August 2019
Last Modified 24 October 2025

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S1061 AbstractEmu AbstractEmu can grant itself camera permissions.25
S0292 AndroRAT AndroRAT can take photos and videos using the device cameras.19
S1079 BOULDSPY BOULDSPY can take photos using the device cameras.29
S0655 BusyGasper BusyGasper can record from the device’s camera.23
S0426 Concipit1248 Concipit1248 requests permissions to use the device camera.20
S0425 Corona Updates Corona Updates can take pictures using the camera and can record MP4 files.20
S1243 DCHSpy DCHSpy has captured photos from the device by taking control of the camera.12
S0301 Dendroid Dendroid can take photos and record videos.39
S0505 Desert Scorpion Desert Scorpion can record videos.22
S0320 DroidJack DroidJack can capture video using device cameras.18
S1092 Escobar Escobar can take photos using the device cameras.10
S0405 Exodus Exodus Two can take pictures with the device cameras.17
S1080 Fakecalls Fakecalls can request camera permissions.11
S0408 FlexiSpy FlexiSpy can record video.2
S0535 Golden Cup Golden Cup can take pictures with the camera.14
S0551 GoldenEagle GoldenEagle has taken photos with the device camera.21
S0421 GolfSpy GolfSpy can record video.4
S0544 HenBox HenBox can access the device’s camera.26
S1128 HilalRAT HilalRAT can activate a device’s camera.24
S1077 Hornbill Hornbill can access a device’s camera and take photos.33
S1185 LightSpy LightSpy has the ability to take one picture, continuous pictures or event-related pictures using the device’s camera.3536373834 For iOS devices, the default file type for pictures is in High Efficiency Image Format (HEIC); for Android devices, the default file type for pictures is in JPEG format.
S0407 Monokle Monokle can take photos and videos.9
S0399 Pallas Pallas can take pictures with both the front and rear-facing cameras.40
S0316 Pegasus for Android Pegasus for Android has the ability to take pictures using the device camera.28
S1126 Phenakite Phenakite can capture pictures and videos.32
S1241 RatMilad RatMilad has taken photos and videos using the device’s camera.27
S0295 RCSAndroid RCSAndroid can capture photos using the front and back cameras.31
S0549 SilkBean SilkBean can access the camera on the device.21
S0327 Skygofree Skygofree can record video or capture photos when an infected device is in a specified location.15
S1195 SpyC23 SpyC23 can capture pictures and videos.756
S0324 SpyDealer SpyDealer can record video and take photos via front and rear cameras.42
S0328 Stealth Mango Stealth Mango can record and take pictures using the front and back cameras.3
S1082 Sunbird Sunbird can access a device’s camera and take photos.33
S1069 TangleBot TangleBot can record video from the device camera.8
S0558 Tiktok Pro Tiktok Pro can capture photos and videos from the device’s camera.41
S0418 ViceLeaker ViceLeaker can take photos from both the front and back cameras.30
S0506 ViperRAT ViperRAT can take photos with the device camera.16
G0112 Windshift Windshift has included video recording in the malicious apps deployed as part of Operation BULL.43
S0489 WolfRAT WolfRAT can take photos and videos.13

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1006 Use Recent OS Version Android 9 and above restricts access to the mic, camera, and other device sensors from applications running in the background. iOS 14 and Android 12 introduced a visual indicator on the status bar (green dot) when an application is accessing the device’s camera.1

References

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