Marisel Garcia first suspected
something was amiss with her laptop when she noticed that the tiny activity
light above the built-in camera flickered whenever she was in front of it. The
Hialeah, Fla., resident also thought the PC's battery was draining faster than
normal. When she brought her laptop to a friend who worked in technology, he
found that someone had installed software that allowed the computer to be
controlled remotely. What's worse, that person had been taking photos through
her webcam.
Investigators say the spyware was created and installed by Craig Matthew Feigin, a 23-year-old student at the University of Florida who had previously offered to fix a problem with Garcia's computer. Police arrested Feigin, who now faces a federal charge for computer tampering, to which he has pleaded not guilty. In his statement to police, Feigin described how he had configured the software to take snapshots of anyone who moved in front of the webcam. He eventually amassed more than 20,000 images of Garcia, her boyfriend and other friends, and sent snapshots of their most private moments over the Internet to contacts in Eastern Europe. Considered tech-savvy around campus, Feigin was often approached by students who needed help with their computers, and Garcia was in town visiting friends when she asked for his help to make her PC run faster. He admitted to investigators that he had installed the same software on PCs belonging to more than half a dozen other women.
Read more: When Hackers Attack: Practicing Cybersecurity at Home - Popular Mechanics
Read more: Stop Webcam Hacking
Investigators say the spyware was created and installed by Craig Matthew Feigin, a 23-year-old student at the University of Florida who had previously offered to fix a problem with Garcia's computer. Police arrested Feigin, who now faces a federal charge for computer tampering, to which he has pleaded not guilty. In his statement to police, Feigin described how he had configured the software to take snapshots of anyone who moved in front of the webcam. He eventually amassed more than 20,000 images of Garcia, her boyfriend and other friends, and sent snapshots of their most private moments over the Internet to contacts in Eastern Europe. Considered tech-savvy around campus, Feigin was often approached by students who needed help with their computers, and Garcia was in town visiting friends when she asked for his help to make her PC run faster. He admitted to investigators that he had installed the same software on PCs belonging to more than half a dozen other women.
Read more: When Hackers Attack: Practicing Cybersecurity at Home - Popular Mechanics
Read more: Stop Webcam Hacking
No comments:
Post a Comment