Who’s Watching You?

It is a Friday night and you are getting ready to go out.  Your laptop is blasting the latest Ke$ha songs on Pandora as you try on a million different outfits and simultaneously dance around singing to yourself.  You head over to your computer to reply to a Facebook message, when you realize that your webcam indicator light is on. Attributing it to some technical problem, you ignore it and continue your off-key cover of “Come On,” as you change into yet another dress.

Sound familiar? Jokes aside, many teenage girls and young women have been recently falling victim to the stealthy “webcam hacker.” Unaware that their webcams can be accessed and viewed from another source, computer users open or click on weird emails, pop-ups, and links that are laced with viruses.  These viruses leech onto various parts of a computer hard drive, allowing hackers to gain access to webcam software, which enables them to witness your life through an uncensored lens.

Not only does this mean that your private “Single Ladies” dance may not be so private, but it also means that everything you do – from picking your nose, to having an intimate moment with your significant other – is being watched.

As if having a real life “Big Brother” wasn’t creepy enough, many hackers record what they see, giving them ample amount of material for potential blackmail. In one documented case, the suspect took pictures of a underage girl changing, and threatened to send pictures to all of her email contacts if she refused to pose nude for the camera.    

Webcams are heavily relied on to keep in touch with friends from home or who are studying abroad; however, they pose a great threat to privacy if computer users are not constantly protecting themselves. The following steps are advised to ensure that no eyes are peering through the other end of your computer.

1. Close your computer when you’re not using it.
There’s no reason to leave your computer open unless you specifically need it – whether it be for Netflix or homework.  Watching TV in the common area? Shut your computer…it’s not like your computer cares about the latest episode of Dance Moms.

2.  Cover your webcam.
If you absolutely insist on leaving your computer open for whatever reason, cover your webcam with a piece of colored tape, sticker, or Band-Aid.  That way, the only witness to your Britney Spears imitation will be whichever Disney princess you choose out of your box of Disney Band-Aids.

3. Get anti-virus software and a firewall.
You should have these installed on your computer anyway.  There’s nothing worse than losing all of your hard work to a crashed computer when you have a 10 page research paper due the next morning, and the fact that these programs can prevent your webcam from being hacked, is just an added bonus.

Once you implement all of these steps to make sure your private moments are indeed private, feel free to amp up the solo dance parties.  After all, it’s not like anyone is watching…now.