The Man Who Got ‘Addicted’ to Hacking Webcams | by Joseph Cox | October 8, 2015<\/a><\/p>\nPlenty of cybercriminals hack for profit, fame, or just because they can. But according to the National Crime Agency (NCA)\u2014essentially the UK’s version of the FBI\u2014one newly convicted crook claimed he was \u201caddicted\u201d to breaking into peoples’ webcams, mostly to watch the unsuspecting victims carry out sexual acts.<\/p>\n
The NCA announced Thursday that Stefan Rigo, 33, from Leeds, was arrested in November 2014 as part of a spate of busts targeting users of remote access trojans, or RATs: pieces of software that allow an attacker to take control of a target’s computer. Five other UK arrests were made from the same Europol-coordinated operation, an NCA spokesperson told Motherboard.<\/p>\n
Rigo paid for the RAT, in this case a tool named Blackshades, with his ex-girlfriend’s credit card, according to the NCA press release. Blackshades is sometimes used to steal banking details, and pinch passwords to email accounts.<\/p>\n
When police busted Rigo, however, they found sexually explicit screenshots of other people\u2019s private Skype video calls, as well as pictures taken through victims\u2019 hacked web cams.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
How To Protect Yourself From Webcam Hackers<\/strong><\/p>\n1. <\/strong>Change the Default Password
\n2. <\/strong>Check for Security Updates
\n3. <\/strong>Install Internet Security Software
\n4. <\/strong>Cover the Camera (see review of cover options below)<\/p>\n