Security experts call it part of the “dark side of the Internet.”
“The website Insecam.com features more than 70,000 streams from CCTV or security cameras that are monitoring businesses, building sites, factories, and homes and is available for anyone on the Internet to view,” reports Mail Online.
The site boasts, “Online IP netsurveillance cameras of the world.” And, yes, the some camera feeds from the Philippines are also featured.
How does the site get the feeds?
Well, as Mail Online indicated, the feeds are “from cameras which have not had their password changed from factory settings.” These feeds are being accessed without the knowledge of the owners of the cameras.
Meanwhile, Malay Mail Online got in touch with Insecam.com’s administrator.
The Malay Mail report noted: “In an email to Malay Mail, the administrator claimed it now only featured feeds from Internet-Protocol (IP)-based security systems without passwords.”
The Insecam.com administrator stated, “I am looking for (a) compromise to make this site legal. Now there are only cameras without passwords available. I’ve removed password protected cameras with public known passwords to make the site fully legal.”
Malay Mail added that when asked if it had attempted to inform the owners or obtain their permission, the administrator replied: “I have no idea how to contact that many users. Only the mass media can help. The cameras are viewed by third parties and the owners did not know about it.”
The administrator also slammed the media for adding the panic created over what was referred to as “this old problem.” Nevertheless, it was reported that Insecam.com’s database of 160,000 camera feeds with unchanged default passwords was reduced to 63,000.
Photo: Insecam.com screengrab
Reader Interactions