RATs: Spying on Women Through Their Webcams

Spying on Women Through Their Webcams

Ars Technica has a chilling report on the men who spy on women through their webcams.

Using a remote administration tool (RAT) which gives them access to a notebook's screen, webcam, files and microphone, hackers grab these women's images using the webcam and also steal their photos off their local drives. Stolen images, videos and even hacked accounts of these women, who they call 'slaves', are then shared and traded openly online.

Welcome to the weird world of the ratters. They operate quite openly online, sharing the best techniques for picking up new female slaves (and avoiding that most unwanted of creatures, "old perverted men") in public forums. Even when their activities trip a victim's webcam light and the unsettled victim reaches forward to put a piece of tape over the webcam, the basic attitude is humorous—Ha! You got us! On to the next slave!

RAT tools are usually spread much like other kinds of malware, by having users run infected files, which could be misnamed songs, movies or software on file-sharing networks. Visit Ars Technica to read the full article.