{"id":11961,"date":"2016-04-28T10:50:12","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T14:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?p=11961"},"modified":"2020-02-26T11:09:01","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T16:09:01","slug":"2ch-webcam-hack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/2ch-webcam-hack\/11961\/","title":{"rendered":"Hackers broadcast live footage from hacked webcams on YouTube and trolls are loving it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday one of 2ch\u2019s users <a>attracted the attention<\/a> of Russian media. This man streamed video from the hacked computers on YouTube. The anonymous user turned these sessions into a real online show. For example when a handful of victims approached their computers, he opened up a pornographic video in the browser right when they came close to their devices.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-11963 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2016\/04\/06022350\/2ch-webcam-hack-FB.jpg\" alt=\"Hackers broadcast live footage from hacked webcams on YouTube and trolls are loving it\" width=\"1280\" height=\"1280\"><\/p>\n<p>Hacking webcams is a popular activity for young hackers. While the general public has become aware of this creepy hobby only recently, it has actually been a \u201chobby\u201d of hackers for years.<\/p>\n<p>In 2014 a voyeuristic website popped up in the news. It streamed video from thousands of webcams located in 250 world countries. As it <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/technology-30121159\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">turned out<\/a>, users all across the globe made the same simple mistake, which let the hackers in. The users kept the device\u2019s default passwords or chose weak combinations like 12345.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Who is to blame for \u201chacked\u201d private cameras? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WItQAZKAbU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/WItQAZKAbU<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/security?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">#security<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/webcams?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">#webcams<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/k7LcRXH6vX\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/k7LcRXH6vX<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kaspersky (@kaspersky) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kaspersky\/status\/535838818780594177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">November 21, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/massive-webcam-breach\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">creepy website was closed<\/a> but the problem did not go away. Last year users of the Russian humor site Pikabu started exploring the world through someone else\u2019s webcam. A user posted a manual on hacking surveillance cameras and <a href=\"http:\/\/pikabu.ru\/story\/shpionim_cherez_quotprivatnyiequot_kameryi_videonablyudeniya_3294899\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">all hell broke loose<\/a>. Readers studied the hacking 101 guide and went online looking for cameras with poor passwords, installed in WCs, flats and back-street brothels. And they succeeded!<\/p>\n<p>So, massive webcam breaches happened from time to time. But in the most recent incident the scenario was completely different.<\/p>\n<h3>How could it happen?<\/h3>\n<p>2ch (or \u2018Dvach\u2019) is an anonymous website, popular among Internet trolls, moral and justice crusaders, people with \u2018alternative\u2019 sense of humor, young hackers \u2014 a variety of individuals actually, from all walks of life. Recently this website hit the headlines in relation to another scandal \u2014 2ch users <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/findface-deanon\/11921\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">arranged a cyberbulling campaign<\/a> against Russian porn actresses.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Trolls?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">#Trolls<\/a> expose <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/porn?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">#porn<\/a> stars social networking accounts <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2mY8kh0JlJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/2mY8kh0JlJ<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/socialmedia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">#socialmedia<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2tejy4TDZ9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/2tejy4TDZ9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kaspersky (@kaspersky) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kaspersky\/status\/723590897028440064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">April 22, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This time the public eye is focused on a thread of an anonymous user, who hacked computers of hundreds users in a variety of countries and streamed live video from them on YouTube. For several days (starting on April 26) 2ch users have been enjoying the possibility to spy on unsuspecting people, discuss their manners, appearance and room decorations.<\/p>\n<p>The hacker has several tricks, which he uses to entertain viewers during the stream. The 2ch case is quite different from other incidents listed above: this time the hacker received almost full control over victims devices, not only their webcams. This lets him stage his streams creatively.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-11964 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2016\/04\/06022348\/2ch-screenshot-1.jpg\" alt=\"Hackers broadcast live footage from hacked webcams on YouTube and trolls are loving it\" width=\"1366\" height=\"768\"><\/p>\n<p>His favorite trick is to open a homosexual porn page when the unsuspecting user is near the computer, or show the victim\u2019s VK.com page to the trolls. After this, the anonymous mass of trolls combine to cyberbully the hacked user on the social network.<\/p>\n<p>During one of the sessions the hacker turned music on to wake up the PC owner. As TJournal reports, in most cases users don\u2019t understand that their PCs are controlled by somebody else. \u201cAfter seeing that something is wrong, many people turned on antiviruses or disconnected from the Internet. The hacker lost remote control over victims devices when Kaspersky solutions were launched\u201d (quote from the <a href=\"https:\/\/tjournal.ru\/27199-polzovatel-dvacha-prevratil-v-shou-nabludenie-za-ludmi-cherez-veb-kameri-ih-vzlomannih-komputerov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">article<\/a> published on the TJournal website).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-11965 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2016\/04\/06022346\/2ch-screenshot-2.jpg\" alt=\"Hackers broadcast live footage from hacked webcams on YouTube and trolls are loving it\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\"><\/p>\n<p>The first lesson is that you should <b>NEVER, EVER<\/b> turn off your security solution. If the people who were hacked *in this very case* did not turn it off, the hacker could not have invaded their computers in the first place.<\/p>\n<h3>How is it possible?<\/h3>\n<p>In this post we are talking about unusual hack: the criminal did not hacked webcams with unreliable passwords for his stream. Instead he compromised hundreds of PCs in several countries.<\/p>\n<p><em>How did he do it?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the thread he explained that victims downloaded cracks for computer games and other dubious software. For example, many users in the stream had some free video downloader called MediaGet installed. The hacker told 2ch users that 90% of such programs are delivered together with <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.kaspersky.com\/glossary\/malware\/?utm_source=kdaily&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=termin-explanation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">malware<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Having hacked these PCs with the help of malware, the criminal installed in compromised systems LuminosityLink \u2014 legal software, which is designed for computers remote administration. He used it to get full access to victims PCs, including their web-cameras and microphones.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hacked Baby Monitor: Security Experts Warn 'Change Your Password' After Cameras Compromised <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/MPHZd2Y5Bc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">http:\/\/t.co\/MPHZd2Y5Bc<\/a> via @HuffPostUKTech<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kaspersky (@kaspersky) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kaspersky\/status\/460811096719638528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">April 28, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Discussing the stream, 2ch users discovered that they can deceive even the owners of laptops with indicators, which light up when a software requests access to the camera. Hacking these devices is a tricky business, but it\u2019s possible. The success depends on laptops model.<\/p>\n<h3>What can be done?<\/h3>\n<p>If you are not ready to become the star of yet another underground reality show, the easiest way to hide yourself from trolls is to tape your laptop\u2019s camera. The thing is that this approach won\u2019t protect you from the main threat: the hacked system would still be hacked and you wouldn\u2019t even know about it.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/qecvpsP0Hn\/<\/p>\n<p>Having access to your system, the culprit can steal data from your accounts (including your online banking), turn your PC into a part of botnet and use it to infect your friends\u2019 devices. That\u2019s why curtaining your laptop cam is not enough.<\/p>\n<p>So which online habits should we change?<\/p>\n<p>1. Downloading free software from third-party sites is risky. You would scarcely distinct a fake website from the legal one. So if you want to install software, you should download it from the developer\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<p>2. Many victims of the 2ch hacker turned their antiviruses off and tried to launch them again only when they suspected that something is wrong. If their security solution worked all the time and users followed its recommendations, most probably malware would be unable to reach their system. That\u2019s why your antivirus should be active all the time.<\/p>\n<p>3. If you don\u2019t have any security solution at all, we highly recommend you install a decent one, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/advert\/multi-device-security?redef=1&amp;thru&amp;reseller=gl_kdpost_pro_ona_smm__onl_b2c_kasperskydaily_lnk____kismd___&amp;_ga=1.89148626.838268831.1450706896\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Kaspersky Internet Security<\/a>. Among other useful features, it also protects web cameras from unauthorized access.<\/p>\n<input type=\"hidden\" class=\"category_for_banner\" value=\"kis-trial-vpn\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Internet-trolls are back in the game: 2ch anonymous hacked hundreds devices and streamed video from victims\u2019 homes for the kick of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":522,"featured_media":11962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1584,899,36,574,187,363,1583,43,1585,1299,1268],"class_list":{"0":"post-11961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-2ch","9":"tag-hack","10":"tag-malware-2","11":"tag-news-2","12":"tag-passwords","13":"tag-personal-data","14":"tag-personal-life","15":"tag-privacy","16":"tag-russia","17":"tag-trolls","18":"tag-web-cameras"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/2ch-webcam-hack\/11961\/"},{"hreflang":"en-us","url":"https:\/\/usa.kaspersky.com\/blog\/2ch-webcam-hack\/7083\/"},{"hreflang":"en-gb","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.uk\/blog\/2ch-webcam-hack\/7120\/"},{"hreflang":"es-mx","url":"https:\/\/latam.kaspersky.com\/blog\/2ch-webcam-hack\/7067\/"},{"hreflang":"es","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.es\/blog\/2ch-webcam-hack\/8235\/"},{"hreflang":"it","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.it\/blog\/2ch-webcam-hack\/8079\/"},{"hreflang":"ru","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.ru\/blog\/2ch-webcam-hack\/11755\/"},{"hreflang":"fr","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.fr\/blog\/2ch-webcam-hack\/5577\/"},{"hreflang":"pt-br","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.br\/blog\/2ch-webcam-hack\/6215\/"},{"hreflang":"de","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.de\/blog\/2ch-webcam-hack\/7556\/"},{"hreflang":"ja","url":"https:\/\/blog.kaspersky.co.jp\/2ch-webcam-hack\/11220\/"},{"hreflang":"ru-kz","url":"https:\/\/blog.kaspersky.kz\/2ch-webcam-hack\/11755\/"},{"hreflang":"en-au","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.au\/blog\/2ch-webcam-hack\/11961\/"},{"hreflang":"en-za","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.za\/blog\/2ch-webcam-hack\/11961\/"}],"acf":[],"banners":"","maintag":{"url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/tag\/privacy\/","name":"privacy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/522"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11961"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33682,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11961\/revisions\/33682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}