Stirling student’s webcam hacked while in the bath

A terrified Stirling student has had her webcam hacked by a creepy Russian site.

Originally from Glasgow, Rachel Hyndman was trying to watch a film in the bath when she noticed her webcam light flickering.

When she tried to switch it off the program told her someone else was accessing it.

She was unable to close down her webcam until she disconnected from the internet completely.

Picture credit: BBC 5live Breakfast

Rachel told BBC 5live of how it was “frightening” to realise that her computer had been “out of her control for who knows how long.

“It was horrifying. It’s terrifyingly easy to do.”

The 20-year-old said: “It is terrifying to think people were looking at me without my knowledge. I wondered how often they had done it. The thought someone had access to me in this private moment is horrifying. It was horribly violating.”

Rachel is thought to be just one of up to 500 victims affected by webcam hacking.

One Russian website offers hundreds of streams available to watch from private webcams.

Most laptops come equipped with webcams built in.

Perverted hackers are even hacking baby monitors and streaming images of babies asleep in their cots, as well as other private moments.

When she heard of the incident, first year student Olivia Seaton-Hill said: “That is literally my worst nightmare. Like, hearing that story gives me anxiety.

“What a shame for that girl, I would be mortified.”

The Information Commissioners Office has warned webcam owners to change the default password that comes with their webcam to something secure and difficult to guess in order to stay safe from hacking.