One password, 50,000 victims: How a hospital’s CCTV turned into a porn pipeline

Investigators told TOI that the breach at Payal Hospital wasn’t an isolated case. Access logs show that the hackers operated unchecked for nearly a year, from January 2024 to early December 2024, before arrests were finally made in February 2025.

During that period, the group allegedly infiltrated at least 80 CCTV dashboards across India, spanning 20 states, including hospitals in Pune, Mumbai, Nashik, Surat, Ahmedabad, and Delhi. Even private residences, cinema halls and corporate offices weren’t spared.

From Rajkot to Telegram: How the clips spread

The scandal came to light when teaser videos from Rajkot’s Payal Hospital surfaced on YouTube channels like 'Megha Mbbs' and 'cp monda.'

Viewers were redirected to Telegram groups where full videos were sold for Rs 700–Rs 4,000 per clip.

Even months after the first arrests, investigators found these clips still circulating on Telegram as late as June 2025, proving just how resilient and profitable this underground ecosystem had become.

Meet the masterminds: BCom graduate turned hacker

At the centre of the operation was Parit Dhameliya, a 20-something commerce graduate with a knack for coding.

According to the Ahmedabad cybercrime branch as cited by TOI, Dhameliya used three separate software programs to brute-force passwords on vulnerable CCTV systems, essentially using bots to try every possible combination of letters and numbers until one worked.

Once credentials were cracked, another accused, Rohit Sisodiya, entered the scene. Operating from Delhi under the guise of a medical lab technician, Sisodiya used legitimate remote-viewing software to access and stream live hospital feeds, a chilling misuse of everyday technology.

‘Admin123’: the password that unlocked a country

Perhaps the most alarming detail investigators uncovered was that many CCTV systems across India still used factory default passwords like 'admin123.'

It meant that thousands of systems, from hospitals to schools, were effectively open doors for cybercriminals.

An Ahmedabad cyber officer admitted, “This wasn’t high-tech hacking, it was carelessness. Default passwords and outdated firewalls made it easy.”

As one investigator put it, “We talk about AI and quantum computing, but our hospitals still run on admin123.”