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Hacking Baby Monitors
So, you have brought a baby monitor to monitor your bundle of joy. But, do you know the baby monitor is incredibly easy to be hacked?
Yes, according to new research conducted by cybersecurity experts, the common household appliance like a baby monitor can be an easy target for hacking. They expressed their concern on how easily a criminal, pedophile, or a voyeur can take control of your baby monitor.
The research looked at how easy it is to hack a baby monitor. Hackers took less than an hour to hack a baby monitor in many cases.
Many of us remember a 2016 news report of a Houston family’s baby monitor that was hacked. The hackers gained access to the family’s baby monitor and broadcast feeds online worldwide. This prompted many parents to throw their baby monitors in the garbage.
Home Video Cameras
The fear of being hacked has surged recently due to the increase in home video monitors. Many people install home video cameras to catch those thieves that target the holiday season. Many thought it would give them a piece of mind.
But, experts have a warning.
An unsecured camera can make you even more vulnerable. Your privacy could be at stake. Invasion of privacy has become easier with the increase in digital eyes around us. An unsecured camera can easily be hacked and someone half a world away can be peeped at whatever you are doing in your home.
Hackers find it extremely easy to hack into your cameras when they are integrated with your Wi-Fi signal. Even if you store your stuff in the cloud, your account can be hacked too. What makes your account so vulnerable is that your camera system sends a live image to your smartphone. And, this could make your account vulnerable to attack.
Hackers can find those devices the easiest to hack that is connected to the Internet. You could connect to a web link automatically and try to establish a connection to the web server.
There is even a website called www.insecam.org that has hundreds of thousands of videos captured from unsecured cameras worldwide. And, they stream the illegal footage of unsuspecting people 24 hours a day.
Experts say that hackers can watch your family secretly and use your camera’s IP address to launch a covert attack. The most popular form of attack is something called a Denial of Service (DoS) attack.
A few months back, hospital computers were locked up in unison. What surprised the most is the devices that were most prone to attack. Many of the attacking Internet devices were unsecured webcams. Yes, those are the devices anyone would least suspect for the hack.
Parents May Not Be Aware: Baby Monitor Hacked
Most new parents who are primarily purchasing baby video monitors aren’t aware of the risk involved. A Washington Family understood the risk first hand when a hacker hacked into their baby monitor. The hacker was speaking to the baby through the monitor, and said, “Wake up little boy, daddy’s looking for you”.
The parents did come forth with their horrifying story to tell the journalists. Talking to the journalists, the parents asked them to withhold their last name. They revealed to the journalists that their boy was afraid to sleep at night because someone would speak to him at night.
How horrific it can be!
The parents believed in the boy once they also heard the hacker’s voice and noticed that the baby monitor’s camera was being used to follow their movements.
This is merely just a case in a growing pile of baby monitor hacking incidents. In another case, parents of a 2-year-old girl heard a hacker’s voice calling their daughter a “moron” and other shocking insults.
In another incident, an Indiana mother heard the Police song coming from her baby monitor, then the hacker revealed that he had been stimulating himself while listening to the family.
Baby Monitors Hacked
Baby monitors are just one category of devices in an expanded spectrum of household devices that can be hacked. Many people think that their computer is the only electronic device that can be hacked. However, they do not realize that network connected digital devices are vulnerable too!
How to Prevent Hacking into Your Baby Monitor
When you are in the market for a baby monitor, the first question you need to ask yourself is: do I need a Wi-Fi enabled baby monitor? Then, do I really need a baby monitor that could be managed remotely?
If you want to prevent your baby monitor from being hacked, you need to buy a baby monitor that can’t establish Wi-Fi or Internet connection.
But, if you do really need to buy a baby monitor with remote access, you can take a few steps to make your device secure and reliable.
The steps are:
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Does your manufacturer of the baby monitor have a proactive approach to toward security? The manufacturer needs to release updates and security patches to keep you as secure as possible.
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As soon as you have purchased a baby monitor, you should change the default username and password right away.
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Choose a password that is complex and hard to break into.
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Keep your home Wi-Fi network password protected.
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To ensure extra safety, establish a separate network for your baby monitor.
Bottom Line
The baby monitor you use to keep track of your baby’s movement can be used to harm your family immensely. Learn how hackers can hack into your baby monitor, and what you should do to prevent the hacking.