A young mother has shared her horror after Asian hackers allegedly infiltrated her baby monitor and used it to spy on her family.
Perth woman Katie McMurray bought a baby monitor with her partner Sean Johnson to keep an eye on their three-month-old daughter Chelsea.
The monitor allows them to watch their baby through a phone app, but when Ms McMurray was changing her daughter’s nappy on Tuesday she saw the camera follow her around the room, according to 7 News.
Perth woman Katie McMurray bought a baby monitor with her partner Sean Johnson to keep an eye on her three-month-old daughter Chelsea
Ms McMurray was changing her daughter’s nappy on Tuesday she saw the camera follow her around the room
She said the discovery made her feel ‘shocked, really made me quite sick’.
The couple set a password for both the camera and their home internet, but they believe a hacker was able to bypass them.
When they looked at the camera view from Mr Johnson’s phone they saw text in a foreign language.
‘Anyone could be looking at your device,’ Ms McMurray said
The couple have since stopped using the baby monitor. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Uniden, the company which creates the monitors, for comment.
When they looked at the camera view from Mr Johnson’s phone they saw text in a foreign language. They believe hackers used the monitor to watch them in their family home
Security experts say there are a number of safeguards families can implement to ensure their baby monitors are less likely to attract unwelcome visitors.
The initial username and password assigned to a baby monitor can often be generic or predictable, providing an easy access point for hackers to enter.
Experts advise families change their device’s password to something unique as soon as possible to minimise the chance of a cyber attack.
Families are also at risk of being spied on by sophisticated hackers if they use the internet to access their baby monitors.
Experts advise families to ditch the internet features of their monitors and instead use a local network connection, which leave them less vulnerable to cyber attacks.
The couple set a password for both the camera and their home internet, but they believe a hacker was able to bypass them