BBC: Cybercriminals selling access to women's webcams

Online perverts are being offered access to compromised webcams—with access to women's webcams selling at 100 times the price of access to those of men.

 

This was the finding of the British Broadcasting Co., which said perverts could buy access to a compromised webcam of a woman at $1, and to that of a man at 1 cent.

 

"A 5 Live investigation has found websites where hackers share pictures of people they spy on, and a black market where access to hacked computers and their webcams is traded online," BBC Radio 5 said.

 

It added it received information from police and charities that "people are being spied on by computer hackers who’ve accessed their webcams over the Internet." 

 

While cases are rare for now, the BBC report said some experts think this could be on the rise because of the increasing number of webcams in homes.

 

A separate article on Bitdefender's blog said the victims' computers are infected after they click on malicious links that pose as legitimate web sites.

 

It also cited advice from Childnet International that said webcams "should be disconnected when not in use, and teenagers should not leave webcams in bedrooms or other private areas."

 

'Horribly violating'

 

Another security vendor, Sophos, cited the BBC report that quoted one of the victims as saying the experience of having the laptop webcam switch on suddenly while she was watching a DVD in the bath was "horrifying."

 

"I was sitting in the bath, trying to relax, and suddenly someone potentially has access to me in this incredibly private moment and it's horrifying. To have it happen to you without your consent is horribly violating," she said. —VC, GMA News