These days, it can feel like there’s a camera watching us from every corner: a video doorbell by the front door, a laptop webcam in the home office, an IP baby monitor in the children’s room, a smart TV with a camera and microphone in the bedroom, a robot vacuum with a navigation camera roaming around the house… Even a smart cat feeder could be spying on you! And any one of these cameras can easily become a useful tool for extortionists, blackmailers, or simply curious malicious actors. You don’t have to look far for examples. South Korea, late 2025: not one device, but 120,000 IP cameras were hacked . The criminals sold intimate footage and recordings of people’s everyday lives by subscription in private chats. In this article, we look at exactly where the threat comes from, and outline five rules that can greatly reduce your chances of becoming the star of a voyeur’s show. Real-life cases of surveillance Hotel porn by subscription Unfortunately, reports of miniature cameras being discovered in hotel rooms and rental apartments have become almost routine. Technically, these belong to a separate category of devices — “spy cameras” disguised as power outlets, smoke detectors, or alarm clocks. We’ll explain a little later how to detect them. Criminals don’t just publish footage from spy cameras — they even livestream it. Access to intimate videos, naturally, isn’t free. In some regions, criminals have built an entire infrastructure around spy cameras: some people install the cameras, others process the footage, while still others sell access through the dark web or messaging apps. Victims typically discover that there was a hidden camera in their hotel room purely by accident , after coming across videos of themselves on porn sites. Hunting motorists Another popular attack vector is hacking dashcams that can connect to the internet. These devices are tempting targets for attackers: their security is often weak, while the footage clearly shows license plates, road signs, and addresses on buildings. The recordings also contain detailed metadata, including exact dates, GPS coordinates, and more. This can allow criminals to identify a victim’s regular routes, determine where their car is parked, or even eavesdrop on conversations with passengers. There can be enough information for full-scale surveillance, car theft, or even blackmail if the camera records conversations and video inside the car. Stalking Not all stolen camera footage is the result of attacks by professional cybercriminals looking to profit from it. Sometimes, stalkers hack webcams to spy on specific people — often someone they know. For example, in 2025 a case came to light in which a man had been spying on his colleagues for years through their home IP cameras. All of the victims were women, who had no idea they were being watched. In another case, a man monitored his ex-wife and daughter through an intercom system and IP cameras. He made no attempt to hide the fact that he was spying on his own family, and even sent his daughter screenshots from the webcam. As a result, she eventually had to move away. Why does this happen? Neglecting basic cybersecurity rules This is probably the main reason IP cameras get hacked. Most users never change the factory-default passwords on their routers, smart devices, or the apps connected to them. Such passwords are essentially public knowledge. They often use simple combinations such as “admin/admin” or “root/1234”, which are known worldwide and can be guessed in a matter of seconds — no sophisticated algorithm is required. This is exactly what recently allowed attackers to hack 120,000 cameras in South Korea. Irresponsible camera manufacturers Even when manufacturers give assurances that camera data is stored only locally, in practice this is often far from the truth. For example, in 2022 researchers discovered that one popular range of video cameras sent snapshots to the manufacturer’s server every time a person appeared in the…

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