San Francisco Police Drone Footage Leaked Online for Months
8 reported3 unconfirmed
A security lapse exposed live video feeds from five San Francisco Police Department drones to the open internet for at least six months, according to a report from WIRED. Two security researchers, Sam Curry and Maik Robert, discovered the feeds on Skydio’s website and watched police conduct arrests, vehicle pursuits, and surveillance of individuals and buildings. The researchers say they reported the issue to Skydio, which took the feeds offline within about two days. The SFPD stated that the link was an internal restricted link for law enforcement purposes and that it had been improperly obtained. The department said it has since put more restrictive sharing protocols in place. Skydio did not respond to a request for comment.
What’s reported
The leaked feeds came from five Skydio X10 drones operated by the San Francisco Police Department.
Security researchers Sam Curry and Maik Robert discovered the feeds on Skydio’s website and archived about 48 hours of footage from mid-June.
The archive includes 60 videos from 20 separate flights, with color and thermal camera feeds, plus telemetry logs with GPS points, altitude, speed, and pilot names and email addresses.
The feeds were accessible via a public web address with no authentication requirement and an expiration date of one year, created in December of the prior year.
The link was found in an open-source collection of archived web URLs called AlienVault Open Threat Exchange.
The SFPD said in a statement that the link was an “internal restricted link” and that it had been “improperly obtained and accessed by individuals without authorization.”
The SFPD stated it has put more restrictive sharing protocols in place and does not have information that other individuals accessed the live feed.
The SFPD’s drone program began in 2024 and has expanded from six drones to 98, with more than 1,400 launches between May 2024 and March 2026.
Open questions
Whether any actual arrests were made from the two forced detentions captured in the leaked footage.
How the link was added to the AlienVault Open Threat Exchange.
Whether any other individuals accessed the live drone feeds before the researchers.
Key figures
Sam Curry, security researcher
Maik Robert, security researcher
San Francisco Police Department (SFPD)
Skydio, drone manufacturer based in San Mateo, California
Sources: Wired
