Hackers hack Rochester family nanny-cam and leak pictures of baby
A family in Rochester got a shock of their life when they found out that the nanny–cam they were using to monitor their baby had been hacked.
The hacking was straight out of horror movies because the monitor would start to play music when nobody was near the baby however whenever the parents entered the room the music would switch off. Putting two plus two together, the family surmised that their nanny-cam was hacked.
Even more disturbing was the fact that the images of their baby taken from the monitor were later found on a website showing hacked cameras from around the world according to WCCO TV station.
Speaking to KTTC, the mother who wished to remain anonymous, said that they tracked down the IP address of person who was using their monitor and found it was coming from more than 3,500 miles away in Amsterdam.
“There’s at least fifteen different countries listed and it’s not just nurseries — it’s people’s living rooms, their bedrooms, their kitchens,” she told KTTC. “Every place that people think is sacred and private in their home is being accessed.”
Similar baby-cam hacking incident occurred in Jan 2015, when a nanny, Ashley Stanley discovered an unknown voice coming out of the baby-cam monitor. The hackers had then hacked a nanny-cam made by Foscam.
Connected nanny-cams always run the risk of being hacked compared to a closed-circuit system. However since nanny-cams are relatively cheaper, parents often opt for them running the risk of hack and baby picture leaks.
Police told ABC 6 that the best way to prevent hackers from accessing such cameras is to make sure default passwords are always changed and that the password you choose is a strong one, combining letters, numbers and symbols.
John Olson, of Miracle Computers, told WCCO: “If you can access it outside the home, it’s definitely possible for someone else to access that camera as well.”
