A Chinese-made action camera used by NASA, the U.S. Air Force and many other Americans is collecting data and communicating with servers in China and Russia, posing a potential national security threat, according to a study obtained exclusively by Newsweek.
Liu Jingkang, the 33-year-old founder and Vice-President of the Shenzhen-based company that makes the GoPro-style camera called Insta360 has ties to the Communist Party of China (CCP) through his appointment as a “promotion ambassador” for a United Front-affiliated event, the 5th World Hakka Youth Conference, Newsweek can reveal.
The study comes with tensions high between the U.S. and China amidst concerns over espionage, technology and a growing military rivalry and with a new U.S. administration headed by Donald Trump poised to potentially take an even stronger stance on China.
TikTok ban puts Chinese Tech in Focus
On Friday, the Supreme Court said that as of Sunday January 19, it would be unlawful for companies in the United States to provide services to the social media platform TikTok unless the U. S. operation of the platform was severed from Chinese control. The concerns around Bytedance-owned TikTok center around U.S. users’ privacy and data extraction, as well as censorship.
The study of Insta360, to which Newsweek had exclusive access before publication, examined the latest version of the action camera and its app, made by Liu’s company, Arashi Vision Inc.
The research on the Insta360 X4 was done by two U.S. security specialists, LJ Eads, Director of Research Intelligence at Pentagon-funded Parallax Research in Dayton, Ohio, and by a second technical expert at a different firm in Arlington, Virginia, who asked not to be identified.
Is Insta360 a Chinese company?
The authors said that data from the devices was communicating with 276 foreign endpoints, many in China and Russia, including about a dozen belonging to TikTok owner Bytedance as well as to Huawei and to Chinese state-owned telecoms giant China Telecom, both of which are under U.S. sanctions.
“These cameras can either actively or passively collect national security-critical data continuously with a degree of fidelity and precision that is likely impossible through any other means, including human sources,” Eads and his co-author wrote in the study dated January 14, 2025. Newsweek was unable to verify the details independently.
Contacted several times by email beginning on Tuesday, Insta360’s Head of Communications Caroline Zhang replied on Friday: “User privacy is our top priority, and we take it very seriously. In order to provide accurate and comprehensive answers to your questions, we kindly ask for more time to gather the necessary information.” Newsweek will update with any further comment. Insta360’s website gives a U.S. address in Irvine, Ca. The company is headquartered in Shenzhen in southern China.
The study said that the cameras have become deeply embedded in NASA’s work, capturing high-profile moments such as the live streaming of the landings on Mars by InSight and Perseverance and creating immersive VR tours of NASA facilities.
NASA used the cameras
In an emailed statement to Newsweek, NASA said that it had used the camera without a prior security check, but that it and the app were not connected to a NASA network: “NASA purchased the cameras in 2018. The Insta360 cameras and the associated app were used with devices that were not connected to a NASA network,” said Jennifer Dooren, the Deputy News Chief at NASA Headquarters.
“During the landing broadcasts for Perseverance in 2021 and InSight in 2018 the camera was used to provide imagery, but neither were on NASA’s internal or external facing network. The cameras have HDMI outputs. Software was used to switch between the two video feeds and was streamed to YouTube. The camera also was used for panoramic views in virtual tours of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland,” Dooren said.
“The cameras did not undergo a security review prior to purchase, however, editing software used on NASA computers adhere to regularly audited security controls. Today, all new devices, whether attached to the network or not, are subject to NASA’s security requirements,” Dooren said.
Military Activities
Insta360 cameras were also being used to document U.S. military activities including in a U.S. Air Force combat rescue helicopter the HH-60G Pave Hawk, the V-22 Osprey, CH-47 Chinook operations and skydiving by the U.S. Army Black Daggers, the study authors said, with links to the Instagram accounts of military service members that appeared to show that.
The camera was available at military exchanges for service personnel to purchase for personal use, Eads and his co-author wrote. Newsweek obtained photographs taken by a military service member that appeared to show the Insta360 camera and batteries on sale at the Army Exchange at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, sharing a rack with GoPro cameras. Newsweek also found that the camera is listed for sale on the website of the U.S. Navy’s NEX Exchange website.
In the report, the authors questioned how the Insta360 was able to enter the U.S. market and directly market and sell into American defense and other national security-sensitive environments. Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Air Force and the Department of Defense for comment.
U.S. officials have previously raised concerns over Chinese technology and its potential use for espionage. China has said such fears are unfounded and has accused the U.S. of blocking some high-end technology exports to stunt its development.
The camera’s app was allegedly sending the IMEI number of the smart device – its unique fingerprint – as well as its manufacturer, model, serial number, mobile operating system, and the user’s gender, hobbies and birthdays. Also: third-party login account information, pictures, video and text content.
The study said the Android version of the app gathered permissions that might not be related to the functionality of the app, including current and recent running tasks, audio, images and video files, and active calls and other phone numbers.
This could all be aggregated into extensive profiles on U.S. citizens, the authors said: “The combination of data overcollection, audio exfiltration, and insecure data transmission creates a perfect storm of vulnerabilities for U.S. users.” They also said they had identified security vulnerabilities in the camera’s firmware and hardware.
Audio data captured through Insta360 devices appeared to be transmitted to servers belonging to a Chinese company, iFlyTek, without user notification or clear data usage policies, the authors said. iFlyTek is sanctioned by the U.S. on national security grounds. iFlyTek did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Mass surveillance in China
“Given the important role iFlytek has played in contributing to China’s mass surveillance systems, and its partnerships with abusive agencies like the Chinese police, there are of course concerns to how the company uses, stores and shares people’s audio data collected abroad,” said Maya Wang of Human Rights Watch.
Wang said it was unclear what personal information could be shared with China’s Ministry of Public Security, but China’s cybersecurity law requires companies to share information.
Insta360’s Android app requests some permissions that relate only tangentially to its core functions and that raised privacy concerns, said Daniel Chou, a Data Scientist at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET).
Where is Insta360 made?
“Escalating the concern is Insta360’s partnership with companies that supported the PLA in the past,” Chou said, referring to the People’s Liberation Army, and to collaborations with Huawei and the drone maker DJI. However, he said that GoPro requested similar permissions, and that Meta‘s WhatsApp requested even more invasive permissions.
In 2020, at a celebration of the founding in November 1989 of the Guangdong Hakka Union – its Chinese name is “Guangdong Province Hakka Overseas Friendship Association” – Liu, the Insta360 founder, was appointed “promotion ambassador” for the Fifth World Hakka Youth Conference, according to an online report by the association. The United Front’s Guangdong Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese directs the association. The conference took place in October 2024, according to online reports.
The United Front Work Department is a department of the Communist Party that uses people, companies and social groups to advance its interests in China and around the world. The Hakka are a cultural group based in southern China. In 2021, Liu was named as a member of Forbes magazine’s Chinese-language “40 under 40” list.
GoPro filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in 2024 against Insta360 alleging patent infringement. The investigation is ongoing.
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