How to Avoid Becoming a Victim of Sextortion

Katie Gatto wrote an article in Tomsguide.com 

In 2011, naked photos of Hollywood starlet Scarlett Johansson made their way onto the Web. The photos, which Johansson had taken herself with her smartphone, were posted on a variety of different sites, and then went viral.

Such things happened to a whole host of celebrities, including Christina Aguilera, Ali Larter, Miley Cyrus, Jessica Alba, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens. No doubt, they had something to worry about — but as it turns out, so do normal people.

t's a process called "sextortion," and it's exactly what it sounds like: sexual extortion. It all begins when someone gets their hands on a racy photo of you. It could be that your phone got stolen, or that an ex-boyfriend decided sharing those nude pictures was a fun way to get over you, or that someone broke into your home computer and programmed thewebcam to take photos of you without your knowledge.

"I just could not believe that this was actually happening to me," said M, a sextortion victim who wished not to be identified by his full name, "I thought it was a prank, but it wasn't."

It seems like a nightmare scenario, but it happens to real people. Luis Mijangos of Santa Ana, Calif., was sentenced to six years in prison in 2011 for hacking into the computers of more than 100 women and teenage girls. If he found nude photos, Mijangos would contact the women and threaten to post the images online unless they provided more naked photos.

The only way to stop webcam hacking is to cover your webcam.  Check out C-SLIDE which manufactures webcam covers for all devices (computers, tablets, ipads, iphones, smart phones, smart tv’s, and more).

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