A website based in Russia was discovered to be broadcasting thousands of live feeds taken within homes and businesses all over the world.
Of the live feeds found on the website, 4,000 are from the United States, 2,000 are from France and 500 are from the United Kingdom. Each link to footage includes the GPS coordinates of the camera where the feed is coming from, the post code and time zone of the location, and a map that shows the precise spot where the device is located.
The general public is now being warned of the issue, as the live feeds were obtained by the website by hacking into webcams, security cameras and even baby monitors that have passwords that are easy to crack. As such, devices that are meant to provide their users with a blanket of security have been charged to do the opposite.
According to the supposed administrators of the website, the purpose of uploading all the live feeds is to be able to highlight the poor state of cyber security.
The administrators told Sky News that broadcasting all the live feeds meant to alert the millions of users that could be victims of such hacking attacks.
"All these cameras were viewed by a lot of users and (the) camera's owners have no chance to know about it for many years," they said, adding that the utilization of mass media would be able to teach users the importance of setting up a strong password for Internet-connected devices.
Hackers were able to obtain the live feeds from devices that used default passwords, or in the case of some, had no passwords set up at all. The hackers scoured through the Internet to search for footage coming from devices that had the default password.
Of all the camera brands that are on the website, the most common is Foscam, a Chinese brand. Second to Foscam is Linksys, which is then followed by Panasonic.
Christopher Graham, the information commissioner for the UK, said that he wished to "sound a general alert" on the possible snooping activities carried out by hackers.
He added that if the administrators of the website wanted to alert the public on such security breaches, they have already done so, and should now take down the website.
However, the administrators told Sky News that the website will only by deactivated once all the cameras have been protected with passwords.
"Few people would leave their front doors unlocked, yet failing to password protect your devices carries the same risks to both their privacy and security," said Big Brother Watch director Emma Carr.
