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A stranger hacked into a family’s baby monitor and began shouting at their child via its built-in camera, FOX19 has reported.
The report states that a hacker had gained access to the camera due to a firmware vulnerability, with the hacker shouting at the baby to “wake up” before the child’s father Adam Schreck entered the room. Adam states that the camera then moved to face him, before the hacker began shouting at him, too.
“Anything connected to the Internet has a firmware and can be reachable by folks you do not want in your network,” said Erik Semmel, who is the vice president of Tab Computers in East Hartford.
Semmel said it’s an all too common thing and hundreds of devices can be exposed. Many times, the voyeurism can go on for months. The only reason this one was noticed is because the hacker made himself known.
“The vulnerability has been exploited, so you can look at anything the camera is pointing at,” Semmel said.
Semmel said it is easy to prevent the hacking from occurring. He said it’s as simple as updating your firmware and it takes just minutes. Semmel added you should secure your home from hackers.
“You have to download the firmware from the manufacturer. You have to connect the device to your system, follow the instructions,” Semmel said. “It could take 10 to15 minutes per device.”
To update your firmware, you don’t need to come to a computer shop. You can do it from your own home.
The downside though is that you won’t get any prompts from your device letting you know when it needs an update. You need to do that on your own. Experts said twice a year is a good rule of thumb.
Agencies/Canadajournal
