Thai media reported that the video was broadcast live on YouTube for several hours Tuesday by an account with the name BigBrother's Gaze. It showed prisoners' activities from several different security cameras.

A Corrections Department official confirmed that the security camera system at Lang Suan Prison in the southern province of Chumphon was hacked by an unknown person from outside Thailand.

Many surveillance cameras, along with other gadgets, are linked online in what has become known as the Internet of Things, or IoT. Security for such items is often neglected by their users, allowing access by unauthorized parties.

The official, who asked not to be identified because she was not authorized to release such information, said the department learned of the incident from a reporter who stumbled on to the broadcast.