Gaining access to someone’s data without their knowledge or consent is called hacking. There can be several reasons why one feels the need to hack into someone else’s system. Stealing information, blackmailing the victims, robbing money, spamming, etc. are the common purposes of hackers.
What’s concerning is the fact that you are not safe from a hack attack even when you are surfing the Internet. This is because numerous cybercriminals have learned how to hack a laptop camera using the IP address.
Here, we will walk you through how it has become possible for hackers to not only identify your IP address and break into your system but also hack your webcam.
Determining the IP Address
In the current era, finding out an IP address is the least of a cybercriminal’s concerns. All they have to do is tap into their victim’s network after you had already visited a website or opened an email tasked with capturing their IP address. Moreover, hackers can also utilize social media services to their advantage and determine the IP address of the users they want to target.
Fortunately, just finding out the IP address won’t let the hackers break into someone’s system. It’s a no-brainer that most of the devices these days are equipped with top-of-the-line security features. Most of the computers are linked with networks that frequently update your IP address.
How to Hack Laptop Camera using IP Addresses?
As discussed above, most of the systems these days are connected to networks that constantly keep on updating your IP address. However, there are countless software programs out there that allow hackers to crack the passwords of a network to which the target user’s webcam is connected.
The programs in question are Wfuzz, Brutus, RainbowCrack, etc. To make things easier, cybercriminals can just save the malicious code on the victim’s computer in what one may consider, “safe” files. Once the user launches that file, their entire system will be at the mercy of the hacker.
If everything goes according to the hacker’s plan, here’s what they need to do next in order to successfully hack the targeted webcam:
- Once the target has been compromised, it’s time for the hacking party to set up a payload. The payload is important because it assists the Metasploit (penetration testing framework) as it navigates through the victim’s system. For hackers relying on Meterpreter as their payload, “set PAYLOAD windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp” is the script to be written.
- If the above-mentioned step is executed perfectly, the Meterpreter finds itself on the objective framework, taking hackers a step closer to gaining access to their victim’s webcam.
- Meterpreter’s vital role in this entire attack isn’t restricted to the previous steps. In fact, it continues to be a major player moving forward and with the help of a module it boasts, Meterpreter is able to find and control the target’s webcam. But before that, the hackers need to make sure if their victim even has a webcam in the first place, and “meterpreter > webcam_list” helps them find that.
- If a webcam is indeed found, the hackers can run “meterpreter > webcam_snap” and click a photo to test things out.
- After capturing the photo, the hackers attempt to figure out how to record a live video using the webcam. Writing “meterpreter > run webcam – p/var/www” is the way to go. This kicks off the live video recording and at any time of their choosing, the hackers can access this stream and view what the webcam is recording.
Can you Safeguard yourself from getting your Laptop’s Camera hacked?
What makes things easy for cybercriminals in the present age is the fact that no matter how strictly one strives to follow the safety measures while using the Internet, just a single click is all it takes for their system to get compromised.
It goes without saying that cybercriminals have mastered the art of how to hack a laptop camera using IP address through Google Chrome or any other web browser. This should prompt each and every one of us to be extra cautious while using our PCs and/or laptops.
For starters, make it a practice to cover your webcam when it’s not in use, whether your laptop is turned on or not. This will ensure that the hackers (if they manage to hack into your system) wouldn’t be able to view anything happening in front of the camera.
Moreover, refrain from establishing a connection with public networks as systems connected to such networks are the most prone to getting attacked. Keeping your software (especially the anti-virus ones) updated at all times can also prove to be helpful as it would make sure that your system has a better chance of fending off the attempted hack attacks.
