The hacker has infected her machine with a remote administration tool (RAT) that gives him access to the woman's screen, to her webcam, to her files, to her microphone. He watches her and the baby through a small control window open on his Windows PC, then he decides to have a little fun...Women who have this done to them, especially when the spying escalates into blackmail, report feeling paranoia. One woman targeted by the California "sextortionist" Luis Mijangos wouldn't leave her dorm room for a week after Mijangos turned her laptop into a sophisticated bugging device. Mijangos began taunting her with information gleaned from offline conversations...
For many ratters, though, the spying remains little more than a game. It might be an odd hobby, but it's apparently no big deal to invade someone's machine, rifle through the personal files, and watch them silently from behind their own screens. "Most of my slaves are boring," wrote one aspiring ratter... (more) (sing-a-long)
That's "old news".
The story really begins here...
The hack follows the path of most hacks. It started as a challenge, became video voyeurism, and evolved into blackmail. Hackers eventually smell money in their hacks.
While you read about "ratters" today, today's hacker-criminals are sniffing in deep pockets - businesses. Eavesdropping on corporate meetings and watching executive computer screens makes more sense financially. Next year the media will be printing stories about that. Meanwhile, you have them scooped.
Q. So, why don't we notice?
A. “The more cameras we see in our environment, the less we see them.”
When electronic cameras were new, you noticed them. Now they are everywhere. You pay no attention. The same is true with microphones. The weird logic continues... If one isn't noticing cameras and microphones, one tends to either think they don't exist, or are not being manipulated as surveillance devices.
Many business executives know better. They know the reality of business espionage and electronic surveillance. Their mental Achilles Heel... If you don't see where your stolen conversations, strategies, ideas, etc. are going, well they are probably not going anywhere. Think of that the next time you go car shopping, and they all look like Tesla's... or vice versa. Then, call me.
