Hackers are watching baby

Be afraid, be very afraid. If you have a baby-monitoring camera in your home you might be only one of thousands of people watching your bambino.

According to Andre Snyman, the founder of eBlockwatch, hackers gain access to footage in homes through internet-protocol cameras, which can send and view surveillance videos over the net using a browser.

South Africa is one of hundreds of countries in which homes are targeted.

The website insecam.com carries footage from homes and businesses around the world, with the US, South Korea, China, France, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands and the UK most affected.

The landing page reads: "This site has been designed in order to show the importance of security settings. To remove your public camera from this site and make it private the only thing you need to do is change your camera password."

Worryingly, it even gives GPS locations of properties, which means that simply by entering the provided coordinates criminals will be directed to your home. They can do this even when you're not home.

Yesterday afternoon, the site showed 83 IP camera links, including in Alberton, Benoni, and Bloemfontein.

Snyman said this was possible because owners had not changed the default password on their cameras, which made hacking into their system child's play.

"This has opened a huge loophole in the security system. You get hackers who sit there and hack your link and, if you have not changed your security password, criminals can gain access," said Snyman.

"The average person doesn't understand this. So when people come and install these camera systems they must ensure that they are credible installers - they just might be linked to criminals."

He encouraged worried owners to register on the eBlockwatch website and request a link to the insecam website so that they can ascertain whether they are being watched by strangers.

Earlier this year the New York Daily News reported that a couple in Ohio were terrified by hackers when they heard an unknown male voice in their home, shouting: "Wake up, baby."

Their camera had been hacked and was being controlled externally.