...these cameras contain a hardcoded list of Russian phone numbers, which can be used to open a backdoor. An SMS from one of these numbers can open shell and network access.
...the web management portal can be accessed, exposing live streams, by anyone with the camera IP.
Reports also suggest that pressure from the opposition political party in Slovakia led to the NBU investigations. The current government of the country, led by populist Robert Fico, initially denied reports that the cameras were of Russian origin and rebuffed any security concerns. Fico has what some would describe as a pro-Russia tilt, but you can read more about that elsewhere, if you are interested.
Reminds me of Flock in the US. They claim to have no access to outside users when requested, and yet in Denver they kept them up and running and only took them down when bagged so the data would be useless to other users. I feel like at some point we're going to find the justice department or something like Palantir had unlimited access to the whole network the entire time.