Baby Monitors Become A Target For Hackers

September 3, 2015 at 1:17 pm By

It might sound like something out of a horror film like Insidious, however, some of the video-streaming baby monitors might be vulnerable to hackers giving parents an unwanted watchful eye over their children. The devices aren’t taking all of the blame either, a report pointed the finger towards poor/unsafe security in household networks.

“The research, conducted by cybersecurity company Rapid7 and released Wednesday, looked at a range of products, both in capability and price, that stream video of babies in their cribs over to screens monitored by parents and other caregivers,” reported CNET.

“The company found that seven of them had flaws that could let hackers see that video stream too. Experts said the flaws are one more example of the lack of security in the realm of gadgets that can communicate with the Internet, a trend known as the ‘Internet of Things.'”

Baby monitors are supposed to be a way for parents to keep a watchful eye on their children to keep them safe and out of harms way. However, by having technology with security flaws, they are actually putting them in danger of being spied on by hackers who don’t have anything better to do with their lives.

Aside from the obvious concerns about hackers peering into your home, there are other things this kind of breach can lead to,” said CNET.

“Some hackers, for example, have breached baby monitors in order to yell at infants and caregivers, something Stanislav said is likely exacerbated by poor security.”

Of course there are preventative measures that parents can take from prevent such alarming incidents. CNET suggests updating you devices software at all times, creating more secure passwords and for extra measures, keeping the devices unplugged when you’re not using them.

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