Mystery website streams your unsecured webcam feeds
By Nicole Riva, QMI Agency
First posted: Thursday, November 20, 2014 05:56 PM EST | Updated: Thursday, November 20, 2014 06:07 PM EST
Canada has joined an investigation into a Russian website that's collecting live footage from webcams and baby monitors in businesses and homes.
The website gains access to the devices through default security settings and passwords, Simon Rice from Britain's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) stated in a blog post.
Britain's information commissioner Christopher Graham is calling for Russia to have the site disabled.
Canada's Office of the Privacy Commissioner is echoing the call and says the website raises "some very serious privacy concerns."
"We are in the process of contacting the operators of the website to urge them to take down the webcam images," spokesman Valerie Lawton stated in an e-mail to QMI Agency.
The BBC reported the website, which isn't named, has streams from 250 countries.
Lawton said the site states is showing "a few hundred" feeds from Canada, but an exact number couldn't be verified.
The site lists 4,591 cameras in the U.S., 500 in the U.K., and 2,059 in France, the BBC reported.
In the ICO post, Rice tells people using webcams or similar devices to change the default password - which is often "password" or 12345 - or, if a password isn't given, to set one up.
Graham told BBC Radio4 global protection authorities have been co-operating in the investigation.
"I think this started in Macau and Hong Kong, they alerted the Australians, the Australians alerted the Canadians. The Canadians alerted us."
Lawton stated Canada learned of the site through media reports last week.
"We immediately got in touch with a number of our international counterparts, and are now working with them on this issue," she said.
The most commonly hacked products were made by Foscam, the BBC reported, followed by Linksys and then Panasonic.
All three companies told BBC their latest products all remind users to change the default password.
Mystery website streams your unsecured webcam feeds | News | Tech | Toronto Sun
By Nicole Riva, QMI Agency
First posted: Thursday, November 20, 2014 05:56 PM EST | Updated: Thursday, November 20, 2014 06:07 PM EST
Canada has joined an investigation into a Russian website that's collecting live footage from webcams and baby monitors in businesses and homes.
The website gains access to the devices through default security settings and passwords, Simon Rice from Britain's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) stated in a blog post.
Britain's information commissioner Christopher Graham is calling for Russia to have the site disabled.
Canada's Office of the Privacy Commissioner is echoing the call and says the website raises "some very serious privacy concerns."
"We are in the process of contacting the operators of the website to urge them to take down the webcam images," spokesman Valerie Lawton stated in an e-mail to QMI Agency.
The BBC reported the website, which isn't named, has streams from 250 countries.
Lawton said the site states is showing "a few hundred" feeds from Canada, but an exact number couldn't be verified.
The site lists 4,591 cameras in the U.S., 500 in the U.K., and 2,059 in France, the BBC reported.
In the ICO post, Rice tells people using webcams or similar devices to change the default password - which is often "password" or 12345 - or, if a password isn't given, to set one up.
Graham told BBC Radio4 global protection authorities have been co-operating in the investigation.
"I think this started in Macau and Hong Kong, they alerted the Australians, the Australians alerted the Canadians. The Canadians alerted us."
Lawton stated Canada learned of the site through media reports last week.
"We immediately got in touch with a number of our international counterparts, and are now working with them on this issue," she said.
The most commonly hacked products were made by Foscam, the BBC reported, followed by Linksys and then Panasonic.
All three companies told BBC their latest products all remind users to change the default password.
Mystery website streams your unsecured webcam feeds | News | Tech | Toronto Sun