JOBURG - South Africa is one of the countries featured on a website that is live-streaming footage of over 73 000 homes around the world and seemingly invading people’s privacy.
Video footage of a baby's room as posted on the Network World website.
Andre Snyman, a resident of Bryanston and founder of eblockwatch, confirmed that eblockwatch was aware of this website and warned of the dangers involved.
Countries such as the United Kingdom and China are also featured on the website’s home page.
According to other websites, Gizmodo and Network World, the website Insecam is able to gain access to private footage in these homes due to the presence of Internet Protocol cameras.
“The website has collected the streaming footage from over 73 000 IP cameras whose owners haven’t changed their default passwords, making it easy to gain access,” Gizmodo reports.
On the Insecam website, it states, “Sometimes administrator (possible you too) forgets to change default password like ‘admin:admin’ or ‘admin:12345’ on security surveillance system, online camera or DVR. Such online cameras are available for all internet users. Here you can see thousands of such cameras located in a cafes, shops, malls, industrial objects and bedrooms of all countries of the world. To browse cameras just select the country or camera type.”
According to information on the Network World website, it said the site had been designed to show the importance of the security settings and said that to remove the camera from the site and make it private, the only thing needed was to change the camera’s password.
Over 90 homes and public spaces from South Africa are included on this website, with cities such as Johannesburg, Bloemfontein and Cape Town being featured.
Snyman said, “The danger of installing such cameras in your home is that it’s unsecure and residents need to find out how to ensure their cameras are protected from this clear invasion.”
Snyman added that residents can visit the eblockwatch website to find out if their homes are featured and get tips on how to secure them. For more information and to access the website, visit www.eblockwatch.co.za
Captured… A screen shot of a video of an office in Cape Town as posted on the website, Network World.Video footage of a baby’s room as posted on the Network World website.Video footage of a dining room as posted on the Network World website.
At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
You can read the full story on our App. Download it here.
