Hackers crack thousands of webcams
Hackers have compromised private and business webcams in several countries—including Switzerland—and posted the live footage on a Russian website. Among them are about 140 webcams from Switzerland.
The portal listed 141 webcams in Switzerland on Thursday. The Federal Reporting and Analysis Center for Information Assurance (Melani) confirmed at the request of SDA that Swiss network cameras are also affected. There are said to be 4591 cases in the USA, 2059 in France, 1576 in the Netherlands and 500 in the UK.
The tapped devices ranged from baby monitors with a video function to professional office surveillance cameras, according to the British data protection authority ICO. Even the goings-on in a gym in Manchester were broadcast online.
The website, which is operated in Russia, uses the weak security measures of thousands of cameras; the default settings for many systems are accessible online, said Simon Rice from the ICO. This is a threat that affects everyone and against which we must protect ourselves. We should at least cover the camera lens when not in use, advised Rice.
Hardly anything exciting
In Switzerland, the cameras listed on the Russian site show little that is spectacular: empty living rooms, deserted gardens, garages and landscape shots, as well as individual stores and restaurants. According to Melani, these are images from unprotected cameras or cameras secured with preset passwords. (SDA)
Teaser image: Keystone
