Hacker takes down his private webcam spy site
‘I do not want to be a bad guy’ he claims after broadcasting images from 300 Irish feeds
THE mystery hacker who broadcast online images from webcams in homes and businesses around Ireland without the owners’ knowledge has taken the site down and told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘I do not want to be a bad guy.’
Two months after an MoS investigation first found nearly 300 streams from Irish families and businesses, the hacker has removed the streams from the Moldova-based site. ‘I do not want to be a “Russian hacker” any more. I do not want to be a bad guy. I do not see any reason to continue,’ said the site’s administrator who would only identify himself as a 30-year-old male from Europe.
‘I think the Insecam project was a good experience,’ he said of the site, which has been attacked as a serious breach of privacy.
The hacker said he does not regret broadcasting streams which included thousands of private moments. ‘I do not regret. It was very interesting project. Now people have a chance to know about largest security hole. As I see a lot of cameras already got a password. My mission have good results.’
Though most of the Irish feeds had been taken down by their owners after the MoS revelations in September, 53 feeds were still being broadcast on Friday.
Baby monitors in children’s bedrooms and security cameras in women’s toilets were among the 283 live feeds from Ireland that couldld be viewed on the sitesite.
The most chilling example of the breaches in privacy involved a sleeping child in a cot.
Most of the Irish businesses that featured on the website were removed after our investigation, including Centra, Hugo’s restaurant on Dublin’s Merrion Row, Reads Print and Design in Dublin, well-known pubs in Dublin and Cork as well as nursing homes, beauticians, gyms and stores.
Speaking this week before the streams were removed, the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) said that there was nothing they could do to protect people’s privacy. ‘As this website is based outside of Ireland, we would have no powers in relation to requiring takedown of such material,’ a DPC spokesman said.
Security was breached when peo- ple had not changed the default passwords on installing cameras.
Technology expert Shawn Day, who lectures in University College Cork, said: ‘What this website is doing is scanning addresses on the internet until it finds a camera, and then inputting a number of default passwords, such as 1234 or admin, until it gains access.
‘Unfortunately, most people don’t realise they can change the username and password.’
He added: ‘It’s not just the creepy feeling that you are being seen, it’s also the content of what is being seen. We’re talking financial information, private information – exactly the sort of stuff the camera is designed to protect.’