Specialised search engine Shodan now offers a feature that allows users to easily browse vulnerable Internet-connected cameras, prying into users' personal lives.
The collection of supposedly private feeds that users can openly access includes security footage of banks, shops, schools, homes, and - most talked-about - children and babies, via Internet-connected cameras parents are using as baby monitors.
The cameras' footage can be accessed by anyone because they use the Real Time Streaming Protocol to share video via the Internet, but have no password authentication in place.
The Shodan search engine helps users find specific kinds of devices - such as routers, servers, and, in this case, cameras - connected to the Internet, using a selection of filters. The search engine purportedly aims to search the Web for weaknesses, and reveal them.
Ars Technica UK, the site that originally broke the news, speculates that the widespread vulnerability of webcams can be attributed to manufacturers looking to cut costs by fitting the devices with very flimsy security features, or leaving out security features altogether.
This practice is spurred on by consumers who have little awareness of security, and hence are unwilling to pay for enhanced security features, Ars Technica continues.
The least users can do to ensure their Internet-connected cameras are not publicly browsable is ensure their cameras are password-protected, and make sure this password used is not a weak or default password.
The feed of vulnerable cameras is available to both paid and unpaid Shodan members via a specific filter, according to Ars Technica.
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