All those who thought that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Ex-FBI Director James Comey were covering their webcams with tape just for fun, here’s a fact to enlighten your minds.
A Symantec based security expert named Candid Wueest says that hackers are nowadays turning webcam users into slaves by recording their secret activity through their computer and blackmailing them in exchange for money in the form of cryptocurrency.
Wueest stated that the cyber crooks may also get hold of all the intimate recordings you shared with your BF/GF and start blackmailing you for money in exchange for those video clips. All those who reject their plea or try to overhear their warnings will find their intimate videos on A-rated websites after a few days i.e from the day of blackmail.
Candid Wueest who works for the California based firm said that large groups of hackers who spy on people via webcams are now seen prowling on the web.
These guys are so sophisticated that they induce malware into the systems which keeps a tab on the activity of the victim for several days and reports to the remote hackers if something interesting is found in the recorded videos as per the pre-specified parameters.
That means, the malware induced on to the PC of the user will record what is happening before the camera as long as the user uses the computing device. And once the victim does something odd before the cam, his/her video gets recorded on his/her same PC and the video clip is passed on to the remote servers owned by hackers as soon as the affected devices get connected to the internet.
After getting hold of the X rated acts such as Mas$^&*&tion, hackers are said to be threatening the victims by asking them to pay a ransom of $135 via the digital currency. Those who fail to do so, are receiving emails that their videos will be circulated on Facebook and LinkedIn to embarrass them both professionally and publicly.
Wueest feels that the malware induced into the PC is having the potential to record all the conversations which take place before the computer device. So, all those who work on secret projects in the Corporate world are said to be at risk of spilling the secret info to the wrong guys.
Thus, to those who are now interested in protecting their webcams from being hacked, here are some tips to follow.
a.) Put a tape on the webcam when not in use
b.) Don’t click on email attachments
c.) Scan your PC for malware
d.) Check whether the webcam light is on when you are not using the app
e.) Turn on your firewall,
f.) Use your webcam with common sense
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