Security Alert: Yet Another Creepy Peeper Baby Cam Hack Story

OH - According to FOX19, Heather and Adam Schreck were woken up in the middle of the night recently to hear a man screaming “wake up baby.”
The man had hacked the monitor, which streams video to the Schreck’s cell phone, and was watching the baby sleep.

When Heather and Adam ran to her room, they saw the camera moving, and it eventually pointed away from the baby to Adam.

The man then started swearing and screaming at Adam from the monitor.

They quickly unplugged the camera. (more with video report) (more)

An almost identical incident occurred last August in Texas.

Murray Security Tip #823 - Hackers search for and post the URLs of unsecured cameras. Once your camera is tagged, you can expect any number of outsiders peering through your electronic window. If you remotely view your baby camera (or other home surveillance products) do the following:
• Replace the default password with your own (decent) password.
• Use a non-standard port. Hackers generally target camera default ports. (8100 or highter)
• Periodically check the manufacturer's web site for software and firmware updates. Often these updates are released to specifically fix security loopholes. Example.
• Foscam cameras were mentioned in both of these hacks. If you have a Foscam product, read their security alert.
• Don't forget to secure your home wireless network as well. Top 10 Tips.

Example of someone who didn't take security seriously.

Related Security Scrapbook items: here & here.

Special ed student records proof of bullying, threatened with charges of wiretapping

PA - A special education high school student made an audio recording of a bullying incident and was later threatened with charges of wiretapping.

School administrators agreed to reduce the sentence, and March 19 the student, from South Fayette High School in McDonald, Pa., was charged with disorderly conduct.

The student and his mother, Shea Love, testified in front of District Judge Maureen McGraw-Desmet that he had been repeatedly shoved and tripped at school, and that a fellow student had even attempted to burn him with a cigarette lighter. (more)

Privacy Art that Tells You a Story... really

This company (lithographs.com) turns the text of various books into a piece of appropriately themed text-art and makes lithographs, tees and tote-bags out of it. 

Cory Doctorow announced that the company has produced a line of Lithographs based on his novel Little Brother, with a gorgeous anti-surveillance design by Benjy Brooke. (more)

via wikipedia.com...
Little Brother is a novel by Cory Doctorow, published by Tor Books. It was released on April 29, 2008. The novel is about four teenagers in San Francisco who, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge and BART system, defend themselves against the Department of Homeland Security's attacks on the Bill of Rights. The novel is available for free on the author's website under a Creative Commons license, keeping it accessible to all.

The book debuted at No. 9 on The New York Times Best Seller list, children's chapter book section, in May 2008. As of July 2, it had spent a total of six weeks on the list, rising to the No. 8 spot. Little Brother won the 2009 White Pine Award, the 2009 Prometheus Award. and the 2009 John W. Campbell Memorial Award. It also was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Little Brother received the Sunburst Award in the young adult category. 

The New York Times says, “Little Brother isn't shy about its intent to disseminate subversive ideas to a young audience. The novel comes with two afterword essays by cryptographer and computer security specialist Bruce Schneier, and hacker Andrew "bunnie" Huang, and has a bibliography of techno-countercultural writings, from Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" to Schneier’s "Applied Cryptography." (more)

Hero: TSCM Bug Report Author Fired for Not Changing Report Under Political Pressure

Turkey - The former head of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey's (TÜBİTAK) Research Center for Advanced Technologies on Informatics and Information Security (BİLGEM) has said he was forced to make changes in a report as part of an investigation into a "bugging device" found at the prime minister's office.

In a blistering statement over his dismissal from the top post at BİLGEM, a critical department within TÜBİTAK that prepares expert reports for court cases and state agencies, Hasan Palaz said he was forced to make changes on a scientific report that was prepared as part of a criminal investigation into the installment of bugging devices at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's office in Parliament and his home in 2012...

In a stern warning, he said the government's interference in TÜBİTAK reports and politicians' meddling in scientific inquiries would be suicide for the science world.

The discovery of the bugging devices led to an outcry and fueled a debate over who is responsible for monitoring and bugging the prime minister's office. (more)

Note: Although this translated news story makes it sound as if he did make the change, a careful reading of the whole story indicates he did not, hence his dismissal. 

From the other side of the fence in Turkey today...

Turkey - Battling a corruption scandal, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is seeking broader powers for his intelligence agency, including more scope for eavesdropping and legal immunity for its top agent, according to a draft law seen by Reuters. (more)

UPDATE: (2/22/14) - Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that two suspects believed to be involved in a bugging scandal have fled the country. (more)

So ya think your nanny cam is spying on you, ma'am? Here's what ya do...

WA - A Lake City couple believes a burglar hacked into their cloud-based nanny cam and has been using it to monitor when they are and aren't home and possibly record their "private bedroom activities," according to the Seattle Police Department.
For the past two months, the victims have been arriving home to find items disturbed and missing in their apartment...

The victims told officers the system is easily hacked, and they believe someone has been monitoring their camera and knows when they leave the apartment...
 
Officers encouraged the couple to stop using the nanny cam and to contact building management with their concerns. (more)

Surveillance Cameras a Weapon in Neighborhood Feud

Scott and Terri Gale, of Kemah, Tex., are seeking a restraining order against Natalie Belk, who lives directly across the street from them, according to media reports.

The Gales say Belk’s surveillance cameras point into their master bedroom and bathroom.

The cameras were installed in September 2012, but the neighbors have been feuding since 2008 court records say. (more)

Without laser. With laser.

I guess taking their case to court is more civil than installing a permanently mounted laser pen aimed at the camera's lens. (snicker) (How to Zap a Camera)