Four people have been arrested in South Korea for allegedly hacking into more than 120,000 video cameras in homes and businesses to create sexual materials for an overseas website.
Police announced the arrests on Sunday, saying the accused exploited vulnerabilities in Internet Protocol (IP) passwords.
A cheaper alternative to CCTV, IP Camera – otherwise home cameras – connect to an internet network and are often installed for security or monitoring the safety of children and pets.
The locations of the cameras hacked in the country reportedly included private homes, a karaoke room, a pilot studio and a gynecologist’s clinic.
A statement released by the National Police Agency of South Korea revealed that the four suspects acted independently of each other, and were not united.
One of the suspects is accused of hacking 63,000 cameras and creating 545 sexually exploitative videos, which he sold for 35 million worth of virtual assets.
Another is accused of hacking 70,000 cameras and selling 648 videos for 18 million won worth of assets.
The two suspects are responsible for about 62% of the videos posted last year on a website that illegally distributes an IP Camera footage.
Police are now moving to block and shut down the website, and are working with foreign agencies to investigate the operator. They also arrested three people suspected of buying and viewing material on the site.
“IP Camera Hacking and illegal identification harm victims and are therefore serious crimes. We will eliminate vigorous investigations,” said Park Woo-Hyun of the National Police Agency.
“Viewing and possessing illegally filmed videos are also serious crimes, so we will actively investigate them.”
Authorities personally visited or identified victims in 58 locations, informing them of the incident and providing guidance on changing passwords.
They also help victims delete and block content, and work to identify others who may have been affected.
“More importantly, it is important and effective for individual users who install IP Cameras in homes or business premises to keep their access passwords.