Hacker sold naked photos and sex videos after accessing smart devices in South Korea and secretly recording people in their homes
- Hacker sold intimate images after accessing smart tech in South Korean homes
- The cyber criminal sold the stolen data on the dark web for a tenth of a bitcoin
- It is believed the hacker targeted smart home security technology in the homes
A hacker who targeted homes with smart technology and security cameras in South Korea has sold naked photos and sex videos online.
Many new-build homes and properties in South Korea feature smart technology, which can be controlled over the internet.
This includes security locks, lights, refrigerators, washing machines heaters and air conditioners.
And the hacker reportedly accessed security cameras and other smart devices and stole pictures and videos, which included images of people either naked or having sex, according to The Times.
A hacker targeted modern homes in South Korea, which had in-built smart technology, in order to steal naked photos and sex videos to sell on the dark web (stock image)
A reporter from IT Chosun exposed the cyberattack after posing as a potential buyer on the dark web.
After making contact with the hacker, the reporter was offered access to images from a number of properties, for the price of one tenth of a Bitcoin – or around £4,300.
Speaking in the South China Morning Post, Kim Nam-seung from the Ministry of Science and Technology said: ‘This incident is drawing public attention as wall-pad devices, rather than home computers or mobiles, were hacked, and home privacy was widely breached.’
He added that the incident highlighted the importance of ensuring people don’t have passwords that are easy to guess.
In 2020, 234,098 cases of cyber crimes were reported to police in South Korea – a rise of almost 54,000 cases on the previous year.
Of these incidents, the most common types of cyber crime were internet fraud and cyber financial fraud.
The hacker, who has not been identified, reportedly charged potential customers a tenth of a bitcoin for the stolen imagery – which is believed to have been accessed through smart security systems. Pictured: Stock image of modern properties in Seoul, South Korea
And earlier this year, the Financial Stability Board warned that working from home had fuelled an unprecedented surge in cyber attacks.
The global financial watchdog, which coordinates financial rules for the G20 group of nations, said remote working since economies went into lockdown last year has opened up new possibility for cyber attacks.
Cyber activities such as phishing, malware and ransomware grew from fewer than 5,000 per week in February 2020 to more than 200,000 per week in late April 2021, the FSB said.
In a report to G20 ministers and central banks on lessons learned from the pandemic’s impact on financial stability, the body said: ‘Most cyber frameworks did not envisage a scenario of near-universal remote working and the exploitation of such a situation by cyber threat actors.’
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