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Peeping Tom Worm That Uses Webcams

Ant writes "The Register mentions a new Windows worm known as Rbot-GR that is currently circulating accross the net. It has the capability to spy on users using webcams. " I'm surprised that it took this long.

54 of 388 comments (clear)

  1. Appropriate quote... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mitch: And from now on, stop playing with yourself!
    Kent: It is God!

    Real Genius

    1. Re:Appropriate quote... by shufler · · Score: 4, Informative

      Back Orifice had this functionality back in the day. Granted, it wasn't a worm, but it was fun none the less.

    2. Re: appropriate quote... by xSquaredAdmin · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you don't like the colour scheme, just change 'it.slashdot.org' to 'slashdot.org', or, if you like the colour scheme from other sections, just replace it with that host.

      --
      Crushing dreams at the speed of sarcasm
    3. Re:Appropriate quote... by uncoveror · · Score: 4, Funny

      The FBI, or some other police agency will probably arrest someone they claim is a virus writer, and say that perpetrator has been dealt with, but don't be fooled. This is big brother, not some kid, or an unsociable grown man living in his mother's basement. Read More.

      --
      The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
  2. Ewww.... by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't think I want to see what's on the other side of that computer screen. I prefer to just believe what foxylady687783 tells me she's doing.

    1. Re:Ewww.... by Wog · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ah, the Internet...

      Where men are men, women are men, and children are FBI agents... and they're MEN!

    2. Re:Ewww.... by Epistax · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think I speak for the majority of geeks who can't get any when I ask:
      Where can I get said worm and what are the IPs of the seven sisters colleges?

    3. Re:Ewww.... by bwalling · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, if this programmer really wants to prove his/her skills, the worm will be able to detect attractive people that are naked and report back only those feeds.

  3. Spy on Nerds?! by romper · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wonder how long it will take for the writer(s) to regret this one. I mean, look at the demographic most likely to own web cams and leave them connected to their computer. Would you really WANT to spy on them?

    Now, if you could get your ex-girlfriend (or boyfriend, whatever) to install the trojan...

    --
    Right is wrong when left is right.
    1. Re:Spy on Nerds?! by Halthar · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh please, this is /., the only people installing Trojans here are the ones who want to "see how they fit" or some such.

    2. Re:Spy on Nerds?! by blowdart · · Score: 5, Funny
      The author originally wrote this for Linux, but after spending 3 days looking at stolen pictures of Star Wars action figures, dust bunny cuddly toys, strange books with animals on and disgarded pizza boxes, noodle packs and tissues he rewrote it.

      I'm going to karma hell now

    3. Re:Spy on Nerds?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      strange books with animals on [...] and tissues

      OMG.... I think this confirms that Linus's "affection" for penguins goes a bit too far to be healthy.

    4. Re:Spy on Nerds?! by RevDobbs · · Score: 4, Funny
      Oh please, this is /., the only people installing Trojans here are the ones who want to "see how they fit" or some such.

      ... the same way I like me jeans: baggy.

      ::sniff::

    5. Re:Spy on Nerds?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're not supposed to put it on your hand. Dork.

    6. Re:Spy on Nerds?! by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Informative
      Libbie Hoeler
      It's Libby Hoeler :-)

      Accidental porn star celeb:
      search google

      http://planetsuzy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=a rticle&sid=203

      The videos:
      http://www.uselessjunk.net/videos/libby_hoeler/lib by_hoeler_part1.wmv
      and
      http://www.uselessjunk.net/videos/libby_hoeler/lib by_hoeler_part2.wmv

      Her name is Libby Hoeler, and she's become an Internet legend, however, many of you might not have heard of her before this. Libby Hoeler apparently went to University of Wisconsin and made these home videos with her webcam for her boyfriend who was away. They were for her boyfriend's eyes only (giggle).

      Something must have happened between the two of them because he leaked the clips with her name, address and phone number genlocked at the start. Before long, they had circulated far and wide and Libby Hoeler became an internet legend. Her real name is Elizabeth Hoeller. At the time of vids, she was a freshman in college. This all took place between 1999-2001, Not an exact date has ever been put with the videos. She graduated from Devine Savior Holy Angel in Milwaukee and then went on to University of Wisconsin Madison. There are alot of rumors flying around about her and what exactly happened but what is above seems to be true.

    7. Re:Spy on Nerds?! by BlndBoy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      her name, address and phone number genlocked at the start

      Ok, I'll be the g33k that will nitpick, when we're talking about porn. I'll shoot myself later.

      "genlocked" ermm... That's interesting. I've never hidden information in 100% black before... Genlock = black burst signal sent to professional (usually analog) video gear to keep everything synchronized... ie Pro camera: Genlock goes in, acquired video is synchronized to said reference signal, video w/burst goes out... Perhaps the auther means title or key?

      Let the -1 trolling begin.

  4. In other news... by MachineShedFred · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... a massive supply of horrible focus and bad resolution porn has started to show up on the Internet. Film(s) at 11.

    --
    Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    1. Re:In other news... by lukewarmfusion · · Score: 5, Funny

      ..Porn implies that sex is happening. Given the stereotypical webcam owner, I'm guessing there's not a lot of sex going on.

      Unless you're counting solo flights. Then I would suggest you remove "focus" and "resolution" from your post.

    2. Re:In other news... by Halthar · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't know about that. Most folks I know more than likely tend to be pretty focused and resolute during a solo flight.

    3. Re:In other news... by shufler · · Score: 4, Funny

      Wait a minute.

      I'm the only one?

  5. Not the Web Cam!?!? by over_exposed · · Score: 4, Funny

    Uh oh... I'm going to have to point my web cam somewhere other than my "den of love" from here on out! How DARE they view me and not pay for it on a monthly basis!

    --
    "The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." - Patton
  6. Heh... by FortKnox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Instead of fixes, I'll be expecting apps to pop up that allows you to view the victims. Some people will really get a kick outta this.

    --
    Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
  7. Where Do I Look Up the Infected? by severoon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Anyone have any idea where these infected machines are listed? Can we get a peek? Cuz I just know that like 90% of unsuspecting hot women like to undress in front of their web cams!

    This is an idiotic virus, isn't it? Didn't the author take into account that way more than 99% of the time, webcams aren't pointed at anything interesting?

    --
    but have you considered the following argument: shut up.
    1. Re:Where Do I Look Up the Infected? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh, but THANK GOD for that 1%!

  8. Whew! by ryanvm · · Score: 5, Funny

    Whew! For a minute there I thought you said, "I'm surprised that it looks this long."

  9. Makes me think of this pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    I still don't know if it was real or not, but it popped up once on a search for Back Orifice many many years ago, back when BO was still commonplace. It consisted of a simultaneously taken screenshot and webcam picture. The screenshot was just Windows, with a little error dialog that had suddenly popped up saying:
    As your computer, I think we need to have a talk. You've got a girl sitting there on the bed behind you, and yet you're sitting here using me. Have you ever considered that you might be gay?
    Accompanied with this was a simultaneous snapshot from the computer's webcam, revealing a guy, with his girlfriend laying on the bed reading something behind him, sitting in front of his computer shirtless, staring at the screen in complete and utter dumbfoundment.
    1. Re:Makes me think of this pic by BAKup · · Score: 5, Informative
  10. I knew WIndows had bad security... by anandamide · · Score: 5, Funny

    But how a Virus installs the webcam on your computer is beyond me!

  11. Just put up a sign by The-Bus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Place your sign against a wall, point the webcam to it. Sign says,

    WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE. WE ARE CALLING YOUR PARENTS.

    Sure, you never find out what happens, but it might be fun.

    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

  12. Physical Security? by bamberg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seems like physical security is the only way to be truly certain that your webcam isn't spying on you. Unplug it or cover it up or something when it isn't in use.

    I wonder how long it'll be before web sites start popping up with unauthorized videos from hijacked webcams.

    1. Re:Physical Security? by windex · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The silly part, to me, is that newer webcams have:

      a) privacy shades that go over the lens, as part of the camera

      b: LED's that light up when the camera is 'in use'.

      What I don't get is that people are buying webcams without at least those two basic features? I have a logitech quickcam pro and it even lights up when JUST the microphone interface is being accessed.

  13. Sub Seven... by linuxrunner · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sub 7 / BO and others have given the user *cough* kiddie *cough* this ablility for some time.

    Sure they're not a worm, but the idea isn't new.

    Funny now that I think about it, but I used to use Sub 7 on my home computer so I could access it from anywhere via an odd port and password protected. I could view my web cam, take control of my computer, ftp files upload and download to where-ever I was.

    Honestly, it was an extremely useful program. And when I was done, I'd just shut down the server.

    I've moved over to linux so I can ssh now, but as windows went, it was still one of the best remote programs I've ever used.

    --
    www.slightlycrewed.com - Because aren't we all?
  14. Wow... by Jugalator · · Score: 4, Funny

    Geeks can just go any lengths to meet a girl. :-o

    I'd like to know the guy (I assume it's a guy) that made this virus. "Woo, I just got this idea -- if I write a virus to see other users, I might see pr0n!"

    Hmm, on second though I'm not sure I'd like to know him. :-S

    --
    Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
  15. Re:Really by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is the most insightful post I have ever seen. I see this issue in a whole new light now, that it's Microsoft's fault people write worms for its operating system. The fact that they have bugs in their software on purpose never occurred to me, but now I have seen the light. Your clever use of 'teh' enhances your argument in a way I never thought possible. I truly have a new outlook on life after reading this, and intend to install Linux on every computer I see for the rest of my life, because clearly it is completely bug-free and is never subject to any sort of malicious attack. Thanks!

  16. Re:Nothing by damned_in_davis · · Score: 5, Funny

    strange, when i clicked it : nothing happened... except the tiny green light on my webcam started blinking.

    --


    "why you tattoring fan sucked doo belly - i have to go buy something to strike you with... excuse me."
  17. Lowest Price on Webcams? by therealfitzman · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have several people I will be buying webcams for. I'll make sure I install the 'drivers' as well.

  18. Surpised? by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny
    I'm surprised that it took this long.

    C'mon, what are you expecting to see, really? People making out infront of their cameras? Ha!

    More likely:

    Some drone plodding away at a spreadsheet

    A gamer wondering why his framerate just dropped 10% on d00m 3

    George W. Bush picking his nose and rolling it into a little ball

    A guy with a big beard and mustache, wearing a bedsheet over his head, two-finger typing instructions to a cell to get him early tickets to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, before staging this next deadly attack.

    CowboyNeal with food stains all down his tshirt (ecch!)

    J. K. Rowling gnawing on the pencil while deciding how the next character dies in Harry Potter. 'Zapped .. eaten .. hmmmm...'

    A couple of norwegian guys with a couple paintings propped against the wall behind them.

    A Slashdot moderator about to zap this post -- 'Worst post ever!'

    William Shatner writing lots of kissing and strutting scenes into his appearance in Enterprise and removing that bit where he's required to act without his toupee on.

    An ILM designer creating the next 'Jar Jar' character -- 'No, make it look more like Hello Kitty...

    Honestly, voyeurism is this desperate?

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  19. Look on the positive side by Mateito · · Score: 4, Funny

    This may very well turn out to be the incentive I need to break my nose picking habit.

  20. Get a copy and find where the media is going... by ianbnet · · Score: 4, Funny

    Seriously, if someone comes across it, I'm going to second calls for a major /. voyeur party. Just figure out where this thing drops its imagery...

    I'm all about pictures of 15-yo gamers picking their nose in front of Doom3. I'd laugh my ******* *** off.

    --
    --------------------- -me, Crusher of those who are Foolish (don't be foolish)
  21. Re:I'm still waitng for... by Gyorg_Lavode · · Score: 4, Funny

    Same with my brother. He told some old guy he was a HS cheerleader then sent him cheerleader.exe. Guy ran it w/o even asking why it was executable. Poor guy ended up w/ midget porn for a background and all the abilities to change it locked out I think.

    --
    I do security
  22. just for fun... by m2bord · · Score: 4, Funny

    i'd like to get a version of that and change it a little. what i'd like it to do is open a window and loopback the feed to the host computer. just imagine the look on someone's face when they realize that they are looking at images of themselves from say two minutes prior.

    --
    Is it 5:30 yet?
  23. Re:I'm still waitng for... by One_6453 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I find that absolutely sickening. mod me down but if those are good times The devil must be your father.

  24. Re:Unplugging mine now... by Phat_Tony · · Score: 4, Informative

    Of course Macs are immune to this virus, but this sort of thing is theoretically possible for a Mac.

    That's one of the reasons the iSight is such a great design- you turn your iSight on and off, automatically lauching and closing the iChat software, by twisitng the LENS SHUTTER OPEN AND CLOSED. Unless the virus also implements X-Ray vision in the iSight, I wouldn't worry about it spying on you when you thought it was off.

    --
    Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
  25. Solution by Dachannien · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just point your webcam back at your monitor, and surf the IT portion of Slashdot. The voyeurs out there watching your webcam will go blind in short order.

  26. If this worm figures how to use by Lispy · · Score: 5, Funny

    my Logitech Color Quickcam with Kernel 2.6.7 it is highly appreciated. ;-)

  27. College Girls Gone Wild!!! by Geckoman · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The first exception to come immediately to mind is college dorm rooms. Fast internet connections, plenty of unpatched computers, and a single room that nearly all of your living takes place in. Limit your searches to college IP blocks, and you'd get much better results. Not many wild orgies, but certainly lots of normal day-to-day living stuff.

    You wouldn't catch much of interest in my home office now ("Ooo! Look! He's watching the printer!"), but when I bought my webcam back in college I intentionally sought out a model with a manual power switch and lens cover for this very reason.

    Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you!

  28. Reminds me of by sheetsda · · Score: 4, Funny

    this. Ahhh, Back Orifice was fun (as someone else noted).

    I remember doing something similar to my friends with an ICQ spoof program, my favorite went something like from UIN(666): "This is Satan, sell me you soul.", UIN(333): "This is God, don't listen to Satan.", UIN(1): "This is your mother, don't listen to either of them." It was even better if they tried to add the new UINs to their contact list and they all came back invalid. (The minimum is something like 1001)

  29. s'easy by billimad · · Score: 5, Funny

    install windows. sit back, and relax.

  30. Peeping Tom? No Problem.... by Dharma · · Score: 5, Funny

    Give 'em something REALLY good to look at.

    Scatter a bunch of fake corpses around your room. Splatter a little fake blood and gibs around for good measure, and then put a radial arm saw and sausage grinder off in a corner.

    If you suspect the cam is active, throw on a bloody goalie mask and say into the camera... "I know where you live...."

    1. Re:Peeping Tom? No Problem.... by Laplace · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Alfred Hitchcock liked playing a similar practical joke on people. If he and a friend were in an elevator, and other people he didn't know stepped into the elevator with them, he would turn to his friend and say something like "oh yes, there was blood everywhere. Blood all over the walls, soaked into the carpet, on the door handle..." He would stretch talk like that out until he and his buddy left the elevator, leaving the context of the conversation as a mystery for the other occupants.

      --
      The middle mind speaks!
  31. Hold on, researching..... by bheerssen · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hey, you're right! It goes on the head.

    --
    (Score: -1, Stupid)
  32. Re:I'm still waitng for... by madcow_ucsb · · Score: 4, Funny

    Heh. When typing to some guy thru notepad, pretending to be his suddenly conscious computer he typed back "if you're really my computer then fuck me!"

    *open cd-rom tray*

    "Please insert dick"

    He went offline and never came back...

  33. BO by zogger · · Score: 5, Funny

    I saw it used for that purpose. A friend of mine had that, and he says "watch this, got this back orifice thing, you control folks computarz and stuff! Gonna turn on this chicks webcam, watch this now...."

    so, he does what he does....anticipation......

    AAAK, ME EYES!

    It was some old lady shuffling around in her bathrobe! Mrs. Lubner deluxe!

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

  34. iSight by GnrcMan · · Score: 4, Informative

    I pretty much expected this at some point. Which was why I was pretty impressed when the Apple iSight included a physical shutter. If you twist it open, it automatically launches iChat AV. Twist it closed, and no one can see you unless they figure out how to patch the firmware with x-ray vision support!