Who’s Watching You?
BeckyStrause
Do you know who is watching you, while you’re in the privacy of your own home?
Apparently, according to various sources, there is now a whole culture of (mostly) men who are hacking into (mostly) women’s computers and webcams and spying on them. They are using remote administration tools (RAT) that are sent through emails, or posts online to access every part of a person’s computer. This means they are able to see every bit of what the person has on her/his computer–every file, every picture, every document, etc. Then they take control on the webcam, and can see anything the cam can be used to view. Often times, the victims (who the hackers call “slaves”) are oblivious to the fact that they are being watched.
The hacker can completely take over the computer, sometimes creating screens that look like popups of things like obscene pictures. The person being hacked may notice strange things happening, or even that her webcam light on, but he hacker can easily use official-looking messages to explain away those things. “The first time I use a slaves cam tho I send a fake message saying something like the cams software is updating and the light may come on and go off periodically,” wrote a user on the Hack Forums website.
How can you keep safe from such attacks? ARS Technica’s Nate Anderson explains, “Use a solid anti-malware program, keep your operating system updated, and make sure plugins (especially Flash and Java) aren’t out of date. Don’t visit dodgy forums or buy dodgy items, don’t click dodgy attachments in e-mail, and don’t download dodgy torrents. Such steps won’t stop every attack, but they will foil many casual users looking to add a few more slaves to their collections.”
As for the webcam aspect, there are a few things you can do:
- Make sure your cam has a light that comes on when it’s in use.
- Close your laptop when you’re not using it.
- Put a piece of tape over you webcam to cover it while you’re not using it.
These articles give some more insight on this issue:
Please note: The 2 articles linked are relatively inoffensive, albeit a little creepy . However, the Atlantic Wire article references another article that may be too explicit for certain readers. Eberly Systems does not endorse this type of explicit article.
