San Francisco SafeCity Cams Run by Russians
Should we be worried that Russians are in charge of a large surveillance camera network that covers much of San Francisco?
Introduction
In 2021 the journalist Robyn Dixon wrote1:
"Russian authorities are ramping up the use of facial recognition technology to track opposition protestors to their homes and arrest them—a powerful new Kremlin tool to crush opposition".
In the next paragraph she wrote:
"But when state security agents are suspected of murders or attacks on journalists and opposition activists, surveillance cameras have at times been switched off or 'malfunction'".
What follows is a report on how Russians may be proliferating similar tactics and technology to video cameras near you.
In the summer of 2023, Jane Doe was injured in a two-party incident that occurred in San Francisco. Jane’s associates—people with business and political connections—have lately been receiving extra "attention" from people with ties to Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union, leaving Jane Doe to suspect the other party to her incident injured her to send a message.
Jane was able to get footage from SOME surveillance cameras in the area of the accident. Other surveillance cameras in the area were also directed toward the incident location. However, footage from these other cameras could not be obtained. The cameras' owners said the cameras were offline due to outages. And SFPD—after officially requesting footage—said something to the effect that they weren't able to get additional evidence.
These other cameras in question are owned and controlled by a company called Applied Video Solutions (AVS). AVS operates and maintains the San Francisco SafeCity camera program. According to their own website's SafeCity page, their camera system has the following feature, "Around-the-clock surveillance network health monitoring ensures continuous coverage eliminating system downtime, while maximizing the preservation and delivery of court-admissible evidence."
AVS is founded and managed by Russians living in the U.S. In the press, the company's CEO has said that their camera network can provide "footage [that] can tell a broader story than a single camera about an event that might be moving from block to block," yet it could not get additional footage of Jane Doe's incident.
As troubling as this may sound, continued research has revealed a possibly more serious issue: AVS has links to a Russian software company called Axxonsoft, whose software is well known in the security industry for its facial recognition capabilities. Furthermore, Axxonsoft likely has close ties with the Russian government. Despite this, Axxonsoft products are used all over the world for all kinds of surveillance systems, including Safe City initiatives like those managed by AVS in San Francisco. It seems possible that tactics used in Russia could now be stealthily employed in America and other western countries.
The Camera System
AVS owns/maintains a network of over one thousand surveillance cameras that, according to various sources, covers between 50 and 135 blocks in San Francisco. Costs for installing a set of cameras is $20,000 to $50,000. The company refers to this system as the SafeCity network. This initiative is largely funded by Russian Hill resident and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen. Each camera in the system has much more resolution and better image quality than consumer grade doorbell cameras like Ring or Nest. There are claims that these cameras are sufficiently advanced to determine a person's eye color or the make of a backpack.
The surveillance cameras are usually installed at the behest of community organizations, and there is some variation in the way that the camera feeds are monitored. Some communities may have humans viewing the feeds live or they may be unmonitored and only subject to review of stored footage upon a legitimate request.
Problematically—because this is a private network—it would be difficult to audit this system to ensure that third parties can't monitor the feeds. In at least some (if not most) cases, it seems AVS itself controls the monitoring of feeds and the release of footage upon request, effectively giving a private company run by Russians visual access to every car that drives the city's streets and to any person visiting its businesses. And AVS definitely has the technical ability to use artificial intelligence to comb these video feeds for anything that may be of political or economic interest. Their own website states, that their "technology mix may feature embedded machine learning, edge computing and in-camera analytics to deliver the most advanced full-spectrum coverage available today."
Chris Larsen adamantly denies that the system will use facial recognition as is done in Russia or China. But how can that be verified? And even without facial recognition there are other analyses that can be used on the video data. For example, it seems likely that they could use image recognition to find particular cars or scan license plate numbers to trace the route of a vehicle as it goes through the city. Technology is even being developed that can identify a person by their gait or other movements unique to each individual.
Furthermore, Chris Larsen has told some sources that he hopes, with full city camera coverage, the role of police will be reduced and more subtle. He also wants this model to be used in other cities. Ultimately, he would like citizens to trust him, a crypto billionaire, with their privacy, instead of a government entity that is subject to MUCH more oversight.
AVS
Business entity records show that Applied Video Solutions was founded sometime between 2002 and Dec 2006 by an Igor Shimolin. A LinkedIn profile shows that Igor is a consultant at AVS and has been Chief Financial Officer there for over 17 years. The same profile shows that he received an education at Novosibirsk State University in Russia.
Multiple people with slavic names work at the company, and records show that in the past AVS has applied for H-1B immigrant employee visas.
Numerous sources have linked Igor Shimolin with with upper-level managers at a company named Axxonsoft, which was founded in Russia in the early 2000's. In fact, AVS itself was once partnered with Axxonsoft. Axxonsoft develops very sophisticated software that is used to manage enterprise surveillance camera networks.
Axxonsoft
Axxonsoft products have been patented in Russia and have been specially certified for use by Russian government entities. Their software has been used in some Russian Federal Court buildings and it has been used to manage camera feeds in Moscow's own Safe City initiative. In 2018 Axxonsoft's software, using facial recognition and license plate reading capabilities, was employed with over 2,200 cameras at a World Cup game in Sochi. It is very, very unlikely that Axxonsoft would have been used on these sensitive projects if the company didn't have strong ties with the Russian government.
According to Axxonsoft's own websites, they have participated in Safe City initiatives all over the world, for example in: Krakow, Poland; Pengerang, Malaysia; Turin, Italy; Odense, Denmark; Karvina, Czech Republic; Mieiros, Brazil; Lima Peru; Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate, South Africa; Donetsk, Ukraine (prior to the 2014 Russian invasion); Zhytomyr, Ukraine; and many others.
Axxonsoft products can integrate with a city's existing emergency infrastructure, including mapping systems and dispatch centers. According to the company’s website, it also has license plate recognition capabilities as well as crime investigation and smart event search capabilities that can:
"Quickly find event video footage that matches custom criteria, such as line crossing or motion in zone, object size and color, etc. Find faces that match a picture. Apply AI analytics to detect and then search for specific types of objects, such as humans or vehicles."
With capabilities like these, it's easy to imagine how even a private "Safe City" camera system could be used intrusively or to the advantage of an adversary like Russia. This issue could have even wider-ranging consequences when Axxonsoft products are being used at international airports. For example, an Axxonsoft YouTube channel shows their products being used in Mexico City International Airport.
Axxonsoft's products are used extensively around the world, and few people appear to be questioning their connections with Russia. Obviously, one of the few places where Axxonsoft is facing problems in this regard is in Ukraine. Even before Russia's latest invasion, Ukrainian companies were accusing Russian companies—like Axxonsoft, TRASSIR, VideoNet, and Ivideon—of espionage.
In fact, a Ukrainian IT company called Inlimited on their website offers services for "de-Russification" of video surveillance systems, asking specifically, "Do they not transmit data to the aggressor country?".
And a Ukrainian news website called sprotyv.info in 2019 wrote an article titled "Who is Russian AxxonSoft spying on in Ukraine." According to this article, Axxonsoft is used in many Ukrainian cites, including for Safe City projects, and the company actively attempts to hide its Russian origins by forming local (in this case Ukrainian) subsidiaries.
Axxonsoft not Russian Anymore?
Unsurprisingly, when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Axxonsoft quickly declared that it hadn't been a Russian company since 2021. They also declared that they were against the invasion. They made these announcements on a website called IPVM.com, a site dedicated to the IP surveillance camera industry.
As recently as October of 2021 subscribers to this website had been asking why Axxonsoft and other Russian-owned companies in the security camera industry weren't sanctioned by the United States similar to how Chinese companies in the industry are sanctioned. One subscriber justified such sanctions by citing an article that stated Russia was behind 58% of state-backed computer hacking campaigns.
Obviously, the main question is whether Axxonsoft has any connections with the Russian government or with Russian intelligence gathering. One of the forum participants had this to say concerning Russian companies cooperating with intelligence agencies in the country, "Cooperation with FSB (fromer [sic] KGB) is not something mandatory (by law), but for a security company of any meaningful size—you do it or you're out."
Axxonsoft may indeed no longer be a "Russian" company in the legal sense, but is there any real practical difference in the company's operations? Some of its products are still registered and patented in Russia. And in major markets like the United States Axxonsoft still has longtime Russian employees installed in their offices/subsidiaries.
For example, the CEO of Axxonsoft US (with offices in California) is Alan Ataev. Sources show that Alan is most likely from Russia and has been with Axxonsoft for 15 years. It appears he might also be in regular contact with the very founder of Axxonsoft, Marat Altuev, who is based in Russia.
ITV
Axxonsoft as a company may or may not have gone through significant restructuring. The problem is that Axxonsoft was never just one company. It was ITV/Axxonsoft. Basically, ITV and Axxonsoft were the same company that was founded in Russia in the early 2000's by a man named Murat Altuev. And today ITV is still a thriving company in Russia that hasn't made any comments against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The website crunchbase.com gives the following information about ITV’s founder, Murat Altuev:
"Murat Altuev graduated from the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology in 1996 with an M.S. in Computer Science. He began his career as a digital video surveillance programmer, the fastest growing and most innovative area of security technology development at that time. In 2003 he assembled the industry's most influential security software experts — leaders who had been around since the birth of the field — and formed AxxonSoft. With such a strong foundation, the company quickly became the industry's leading security software solution developer."
Twenty years after founding ITV/Axxonsoft, Murat is still involved in the security and surveillance industry. One of Murat Altuev's friends is Islam Ashkhotov. Ashkhotov was until recently the Minister of Digital Development for the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria in Russia. This relationship certainly did not hinder Marat's ambitions in creating university programs that would eventually provide his company with up-and-coming talent.
Sources show that Murat and ITV have sponsored programs at two Russian universities in Kabardino-Balkaria to prepare future programmers who will develop artificial intelligence and facial recognition for video surveillance systems. At least one of these programs included cooperation with the sanctioned Chinese company Huawei. These programs also appear to be endorsed by the Russian government, mainly through the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
Further proof of ITV's involvement with the Russian government is the company's partnership with the Skolkovo Innovation Center. Skolkovo is a fairly exclusive government-funded hi-tech innovation center that was the pet project of former Russian President Dmitri Medvedyev. The director of Skolkovo is billionaire oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
Like ITV, according to wgbh.org, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) also had a partnership with Skolkovo. The partnership ultimately raised the suspicions of the FBI, because:
"Continuing a collaboration with Skolkovo, which has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government, has raised concerns that MIT is vulnerable to technology transfer theft and is helping to soften Russia’s image on the global stage, according to sources from the U.S. national security community."
Through its various partnerships and sponsorships, it is very apparent that Axxonsoft's former sister company is very much aligned with the Russian government and trying to develop more advanced surveillance tools and cadre for the country's authoritarian regime.
The Audit Issue
Axxonsoft's history and connections are only a problem if its products are used for espionage or crime. Other Russian software companies have had their products banned for use in the United States government because they were suspected to contain spyware. For example, Kaspersky antivirus—from the Russian company Kaspersky Labs—can't be used by U.S. government offices because it was suspected of being used to exfiltrate stolen software from an NSA employee's personal computer. None of Axxonsoft's products are currently known to transmit data to Russian intelligence agencies, BUT the transmittal of such data by an Axxonsoft program would be really difficult to detect, requiring fairly sophisticated cybersecurity analysis. An ordinary user might never know if Axxonsoft is sending analyzed data to Russia via the Internet.
As with virtually ANY software, one rogue developer and as little as one line of code can turn a simple application into damaging spyware. So even IF Axxonsoft and most of its developers were completely honest and well-intentioned, one action by one person could still turn their product against their clients. AND because that one rogue developer might be in Russia or another country, they couldn't be easily investigated or prosecuted.
In 2018, Axxonsoft had their product Axxon Next "independently" tested. However, there were at least two problems with this testing: 1) according to Axxonsoft's own press release, only cybersecurity tests, and not a code audit, were done; 2) the company that performed this independent testing is itself managed by people from long-time Russian ally Belarus.
The cybersecurity tests performed on Axxon Next ensure that it is secure (secure-ish) from being hacked. This does not mean that the program itself can't be spying on your organization or transmitting your data to a third party. To ensure that the software itself is not hacking other computers on your network or sending its data—in this case video or video metadata—to someone in the Russian government, a code audit would have to be performed on the software.
The cybersecurity tests were run by a company called a1qa. Being owned by a Belarusian named Sergey Gvardeitsev, this company has offices in America, but its parent company—according to the company's own LinkedIn profile—is comprised mostly of Belorussians. Belarus is very closely allied with Russia, and, considering the control these governments have over their citizens and their companies, the audit seems more like a ruse than an actual quality check.
No, We Really Aren't a Russian Company... But
Axxonsoft claims it hasn't been a Russian company since 2021, but a post on pro.connect.2bnet.com shows that up until 2021 Axxonsoft was indeed Russian, very Russian, even suspiciously Russian. In the post, an Axxonsoft sales director named Fedor Mendelev is looking for distribution partners in the Balkans.
At the beginning of the post, Fedor clearly states where the company is based, saying: "We are a collaboration of two of the largest Russian companies..." And at the end of the post, Fedor mentions a rather interesting characteristic that Axxonsoft is NOT looking for in a partner:
" #4. If you don't trust all Russians[:] Do not laugh. We lost projects because in our advanced and tolerant world there are still people who seriously believe in such things as 'Russian software spyware', 'in every Russian company the are KGB agent ( you can heard this from russians too)', and everyone in that spirit. If this made you laugh, then all is not lost. But if you agree with these statements and are even ready to add to the list, please do not write to us."
Analysis of the post gives several points to ponder regarding Axxonsoft: 1) Axxonsoft is large, 2) Axxonsoft is Russian, 3) Axxonsoft has lost business because some suspect it may be involved with Russian intelligence, 4) even some actual Russians think companies like Axxonsoft are infiltrated by Russian intelligence agents, and 5) Axxonsoft is sensitive to these last two points and will try to shame (or gaslight?) people who have such suspicions by implying that they aren't sufficiently "advanced" or "tolerant".
Below are screengrabs from Fedor's post.
Conclusion/Summary
There are MANY Russians involved in the security camera industry in the United States, especially in California. Russian and Russian-run companies are developing and proliferating video analysis software that utilizes artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and a whole host of other technologies to track people all over the world. Companies like AVS and their partner (former partner?) Axxonsoft could be employing sophisticated tools that we are simply not aware of. It's not intolerant to question the loyalties of these Russians, and there are incredibly few—if any—public forums where these camera-installing Russians are seen adamantly and convincingly denouncing the hostilities of their mother country's government. Quite the contrary, they appear to acting in typical Russian fashion—with obfuscation and gaslighting.
The introduction to this article described San Francisco's SafeCity initiative, which is maintained by Applied Video Solutions (AVS). AVS was founded by a Russian named Igor Shimolin. It is known that a partner (former partner?) of AVS is the Russian-founded company Axxonsoft, which until 2021 was basically the same company as the Russian company ITV. ITV/Axxonsoft was founded in the early 2000's in Russia by Marat Altuev. ITV has significant ties to the Russian government.
Because the SafeCity initiative is a private initiative, it is subject to very little oversight, yet it covers the very public movements of California residents. It seems incredibly convenient that something so insulated from government supervision and having such powerful capabilities is being controlled by Russians. If roles were reversed, would Russians let some Americans run a widespread private surveillance camera network in their version of Silicon Valley?
Nyet!
Dixon, Robyn. Russia's surveillance state still doesn't match China. But Putin is racing to catch up. The Washington Post. 17 April 2021.