Hackers "can watch you through your webcam"

21 Jan 08

If your computer has been infected with a ‘bot’, you might not even know about it. But, as Eric Chien explains here, that doesn’t stop hackers from accessing your personal files and making them accessible to other people on the internet.

“For the user who’s infected, they see absolutely nothing happening on their machine,” Chien says.

“They cannot tell that they are actually infected and the hacker is at that very moment searching and pilfering through their files.”

Apparently, the hackers (or ‘bot-herders’, as some like to be known) can even watch your every move by streaming footage from your webcam. As long as the hacker has access to the internet, he or she will be able to monitor your activities.

“Very much what they do is with the goal of making money,” says Chien. “Bots are just a piece of what we call crimeware today.”

He claims some companies might be prepared to pay hackers ‘three cents’ for each time they manage to install a third-party application on a computer.

To avoid hackers, it is recommended that you install anti-virus software with the latest definitions and an effective firewall.

• Eric Chien is part of Symantec's Security Response Team.

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